Commenting on the change, CEO Sam Altman said on X that user attachment to specific AI personalities had been stronger than the company anticipated. “The real solution here remains letting users customize ChatGPT’s style much more. We are working that,” his post read.
The issue arose after GPT-5 was launched on August 7, when users flooded Reddit with complaints about the model’s cold, corporate tone. Users who were used to a certain emotional behaviour from the bot, demonstrated by simple phrases such as “Great question” or “great start”, felt unsettled with the new model.
The much-anticipated GPT-5 launch has been marred by controversies. OpenAI had initially removed access to legacy models without warning, forcing everyone to use the new model, which also drew a backlash from users.
The updated GPT-5 now offers users three distinct modes: “Auto,” “Fast,” and “Thinking,” giving users greater control over the AI’s behaviour and response style.
“One lesson we’ve learned from the past few days is that we need to create a system that allows for more individual customization of model personality,” Altman said in response to the backlash online. The CEO admitted being surprised by users’ strong attachment to specific AI models, calling it “different and stronger than the kinds of attachment people have had to previous kinds of technology”.
Beyond personality concerns, GPT-5’s launch was also impacted by technical problems, including a malfunctioning router that misrouted user queries to cheaper, less capable models.
During a Reddit ‘Ask me anything’ (AMA) session, Altman and members of the GPT-5 team faced a deluge of feedback from users. Many were unhappy with the new model and asked for GPT-4o to be brought back, especially those who had built their workflows around it.
OpenAI quickly reversed course, restoring access to GPT-4o and increasing rate limits to 3,000 messages per week for GPT-5’s reasoning functionality.