Getting Started With OpenAI Platform

Welcome back inside my computer. This lesson highlights key areas of the OpenAI Platform and points you to documentation, changelogs, and runnable examples. We’ll start by exploring the Playground to get a feel for model behavior, then show where to find model details, release notes, and sample code you can copy into your editor.

Explore the Playground

Open the Playground to interact with the models and experiment with prompt design and parameters:

Playground: https://platform.openai.com/playground

In the Chat playground you can type a simple prompt like:

What is 20 times 10 plus 5 minus 3 times 10?

Run it to see the computed result. The Playground exposes parameters such as temperature, maximum length, and top_p so you can observe how responses change. You can switch models and use the Realtime tab to enable microphone input to speak directly to the model.

A dark-themed screenshot of the OpenAI Playground's Realtime tab showing a central prompt to "Enable access" for the microphone. The right sidebar displays voice and server-turn detection settings while a left navigation menu lists Playground options.

The Playground also surfaces Assistants (create or update an assistant), text-to-speech options, and completion parameters. A few quick prompts to try:

Write a tagline for an ice cream shop.

or experiment with system messages to alter tone and behavior:

You are a friendly, concise assistant that explains code examples clearly.

Dashboard, Models, and Documentation

Visit the Dashboard to review usage, API keys, Assistants, batch jobs, evaluations, and more:

Dashboard: https://platform.openai.com/dashboard
Docs: https://platform.openai.com/docs

On the Models page you can browse models available to you. Models with green highlights link to deeper docs with usage guidelines, rate limits, and model-specific behavior (e.g., GPT-4, GPT-4o Mini, GPT-3.5 Turbo, DALL·E, Whisper).

A dark-themed screenshot of the OpenAI documentation showing a "Models overview" page with a table of model names and descriptions (GPT‑4o, GPT‑4o mini, GPT‑3.5 Turbo, DALL·E, Whisper, etc.) and a left-hand navigation menu. The right column lists related docs and the central area explains each model's purpose.

Important places in the docs:

Model pages — capabilities, recommended uses, and limitations.
Changelog / Release notes — feature additions, deprecations, and migration guidance.
Guides — function calling, fine-tuning, evaluation, images, and audio.

Review the model docs to determine which model best suits your use case (text generation, embeddings, image generation, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, etc.).

Quick Code Examples

Copy these examples into your editor and supply your OpenAI API key to run them. JavaScript example:

import OpenAI from "openai";
const openai = new OpenAI();

const completion = await openai.chat.completions.create({
  model: "gpt-4o",
  messages: [
    { role: "system", content: "You are a helpful assistant." },
    { role: "user", content: "Write a haiku about recursion in programming." }
  ]
});

console.log(completion.choices[0].message.content);

Python example:

from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI()

completion = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o",
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "Write a haiku about recursion in programming."}
    ]
)

print(completion.choices[0].message["content"])

You will need your OpenAI API key to run these examples. Obtain and configure your OpenAI API key before running them. Never commit your API key to source control.

Images API Example

From the Images guide, here is a Python snippet showing how to create an image variation:

response = client.images.create_variation(
    model="dall-e-2",
    image=open("corgi_and_cat_paw.png", "rb"),
    n=1,
    size="1024x1024"
)

image_url = response.data[0].url

Deprecations, Changelogs, and Migration Guidance

Regularly monitor the changelog for updates that may require code changes. Release notes indicate feature additions, behavior changes, and deprecations — all critical for maintaining a stable integration. Example deprecation details (illustrative):

Deprecated models:
- gpt-3.5-turbo-0613
- gpt-3.5-turbo-16k-0613

Deprecated endpoints:
- /v1/fine_tuning/jobs
- /v1/fine-tunes

Pricing references (example):
- $1.50 / 1M input tokens + $2.00 / 1M output tokens
- $3.00 / 1M input tokens + $4.00 / 1M output tokens

Deprecations can break existing integrations. When the changelog announces endpoint or model retirement, follow the migration guidance in the release notes immediately to avoid disruptions.

Quick Reference Table

Resource	Where to Find It	Why It Matters
Playground	https://platform.openai.com/playground	Experiment with prompts, models, and realtime audio I/O
Dashboard	https://platform.openai.com/dashboard	Manage API keys, usage, Assistants, and billing
Docs	https://platform.openai.com/docs	API reference, guides, and code samples
Models page	https://platform.openai.com/docs/models	Model capabilities, rate limits, and links to model cards
Release notes / Changelog	https://platform.openai.com/docs/release-notes	Updates, deprecations, and migration instructions
Images guide	https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/images	Image generation and variation examples

Quick Start Checklist

Create and securely store your API key: https://platform.openai.com/account/api-keys
Experiment in the Playground to refine prompts and settings.
Copy sample code into your editor and replace the placeholder API key.
Monitor release notes and update integrations for deprecations.
Use model docs to choose the right model for generation, embeddings, audio, or vision.

Links and References

Use the Docs as your primary reference, copy sample code into your editor, and test in the Playground before deploying changes. Regularly reviewing changelogs ensures your integrations remain compatible with the latest API behavior.

Pre-Requisites

Introduction to AI

Text Generation

Features

Vision

Getting Started With OpenAI Platform

Explore the Playground

Dashboard, Models, and Documentation

Quick Code Examples

Images API Example

Deprecations, Changelogs, and Migration Guidance

Quick Reference Table

Quick Start Checklist

Links and References

Watch Video

​Explore the Playground

​Dashboard, Models, and Documentation

​Quick Code Examples

​Images API Example

​Deprecations, Changelogs, and Migration Guidance

​Quick Reference Table

​Quick Start Checklist

​Links and References

Watch Video

Explore the Playground

Dashboard, Models, and Documentation

Quick Code Examples

Images API Example

Deprecations, Changelogs, and Migration Guidance

Quick Reference Table

Quick Start Checklist

Links and References