The GPT-4o Batch API has been extremely slow

Since January 31, the GPT-4o model’s Batch API has been running significantly slower. Previously, I could get results within 1-2 hours, but since the 31st, it has been taking almost 24 hours, or sometimes even expiring before completion. Am I the only one experiencing this issue?

HI and welcome to the Developer community forum,

The Batch API is for tasks that you are happy may take up to 24 hours to run, that is the only guarantee with a call to that endpoint. While you may, and often do, get faster responses when load is low, the flip side is that when demand is high, things can take longer to get queued.

I often find running batch jobs on weekends and at times when the US working hours are over is best for speed.

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Hi, thanks for your reply!

I understand that results are expected within 24 hours. However, my point is that previously, it would typically take just 1-2 hours, and sometimes even faster on weekends. But since January 31, the performance has drastically slowed down. Also, I’ve noticed similar posts in the community, which suggests that this isn’t just an issue on my end.

I think that’s why they built in the 24 hours? When network load is higher, they might not have the compute to do the batches as quickly.

I understand it. But since the 31st, almost every batch has been slow. In the past, if I ran 10 batches, maybe 2 would take longer than usual. But now, if I run 10, I’d be lucky if even 2 finish at the usual speed.

There are also more cases where jobs expire after 24 hours. And it’s still slow even on weekends when demand is lower.

I’ve heard switching models helps, but I have no idea how different the results would be compared to what I was getting before, so switching isn’t really an option.

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