OpenAI brings back GPT-4o to ChatGPT after criticism of GPT-5

After GPT-5 became the default model in ChatGPT, OpenAI announced that subscribers will once again be able to choose GPT-4o. The decision was made after a barrage of negative reviews on social media and Reddit, where users described 4o not just as a tool, but as a "friend" or even a "partner." The Verge reports.

"We will let Plus users choose to continue to use 4o," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in X. "We will watch usage as we think about how long to offer legacy models for."

The removal of GPT-4o and other models from the selection menu has caused discontent among those who use them for various tasks, with one user calling it "the destruction of a working environment of 8 models overnight without warning."

Some in the r/ChatGPT and r/MyBoyfriendIsAI communities were particularly bitter about the change. People wrote that GPT-4o had "its own rhythm, voice, and spark," while GPT-5 seemed more dry and corporate. One post described the switch to GPT-5 as "feeling like a betrayal."

At the same time, there were more pragmatic complaints - users complained that GPT-5 sometimes answers slower, shorter and less accurately. OpenAI promises to "make the model smarter", increase transparency about which model answers, and increase limits for Plus subscribers.

Such "emotional losses" during chatbot updates are not new: fans even held online "funerals" for the Claude 3 Sonnet model from Anthropic.