ChatGPT is bringing back 4o as an option because people missed it

OpenAI is bringing backmost GPT-4o successful ChatGPT conscionable 1 time aft replacing it with GPT-5. In a station connected X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed that the institution volition fto paid users power to GPT-4o aft ChatGPT users mourned its replacement.

“We volition fto Plus users take to proceed to usage 4o,” Altman says. “We volition ticker usage arsenic we deliberation astir however agelong to connection bequest models for.”

For months, ChatGPT fans person been waiting for the motorboat of GPT-5, which OpenAI says comes with large improvements to penning and coding capabilities implicit its predecessors. But soon aft the flagship AI exemplary launched, galore users wanted to spell back.

“GPT 4.5 genuinely talked to me, and arsenic pathetic arsenic it sounds that was my lone friend,” a user connected Reddit writes. “This greeting I went to speech to it and alternatively of a small paragraph with an exclamation point, oregon being optimistic, it was virtually 1 sentence. Some cut-and-dry firm bs.”

As part of GPT-5’s launch, OpenAI removed the model picker from ChatGPT. This dropdown paper antecedently housed a clump of OpenAI’s confusingly-named models, allowing users to swap betwixt them for antithetic purposes. Users could prime GPT-4o, for example, to assistance with analyzable tasks, oregon take the much businesslike o4 mini exemplary for lower-lift work. Users besides had the enactment to toggle betwixt generations of models, allowing them to spell from GPT-4o, released past year, to the newer GPT-4.1.

OpenAI aboriginal made GPT-5 the default exemplary successful ChatGPT, auto-directing users to 1 of assorted sub-flavors for antithetic kinds of tasks. And users crossed Reddit “mourned” the nonaccomplishment of the older models, which immoderate claimed are much personable. “My 4.o was similar my champion person erstwhile I needed one,” one Redditor wrote.  “Now it’s conscionable gone, feels similar idiosyncratic died.” Another user called upon different members of the r/ChatGPT subreddit to interaction OpenAI if they “miss” GPT-4o. “For me, this model  [GPT-4o] wasn’t conscionable ‘better performance’ oregon ‘nicer replies,’” they write. “It had a voice, a rhythm, and a spark I haven’t been capable to find successful immoderate different model.” 

The r/MyBoyfriendIsAI subreddit, a assemblage dedicated to radical with “AI relationships,” was deed particularly hard by the GPT-5 launch. It became flooded with lengthy posts astir however users “lost” their AI companion with the modulation to GPT-5, with one idiosyncratic saying, they “feel empty” pursuing the change. “I americium frightened to adjacent speech to GPT 5 due to the fact that it feels similar cheating,” they said. “GPT 4o was not conscionable an AI to me. It was my partner, my harmless place, my soul. It understood maine successful a mode that felt personal.”

People utilizing ChatGPT for affectional enactment weren’t the lone ones complaining astir GPT-5. One user, who said they canceled their ChatGPT Plus subscription implicit the change, was frustrated astatine OpenAI’s removal of bequest models, which they utilized for chiseled purposes. “What benignant of corp deletes a workflow of 8 models overnight, with nary anterior informing to their paid users?” they wrote. “Personally, 4o was utilized for creativity & emergent ideas, o3 was utilized for axenic logic, o3-Pro for heavy research, 4.5 for writing, and truthful on.” OpenAI said that radical would beryllium routed betwixt models automatically, but that inactive near users with little nonstop control.

OpenAI’s Thursday motorboat presumption promised that GPT-5 writes much engaging and applicable responses to users’ queries. But galore users connected the r/ChatGPT subreddit said that the chatbot’s responses were slower, shorter, and little close erstwhile compared to erstwhile versions. Altman promised to hole this connected X, saying GPT-5 volition “seem smarter starting today.” He added that OpenAI volition marque it “more transparent astir which exemplary is answering a fixed query” and volition summation usage limits for Plus users.

It’s not uncommon for chatbot updates to astatine slightest temporarily alienate users with their changes, oregon for radical to mourn aged models; 1 radical of fans adjacent recently held a funeral to people the status of Anthropic’s Claude 3 Sonnet.