In brief
- Altman admits that OpenAI “screwed up” the GPT-5 rollout, after backlash over replacing user-favorite GPT-4o.
- Users called GPT-5 colder and less supportive than previous models. OpenAI restored access to GPT-4o for paid users.
- Altman said that GPT-6 must feel personal without exploiting users, but GPU shortages limit OpenAI’s pace.
After public backlash over GPT-5’s rollout, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted the company “screwed up,” and said the fallout is already shaping the next version of ChatGPT.
At a private dinner with reporters in San Francisco, first reported by The Verge, Altman admitted that GPT-5’s launch upset many of ChatGPT’s hundreds of millions of users.
“I think we totally screwed up some things on the rollout,” he said.
The misstep centered on OpenAI’s decision to replace ChatGPT’s default “4o” model, which was widely praised for its warmth and conversational style, with GPT-5. User backlash on Reddit and X was swift, with some users threatening to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions. Following the backlash, OpenAI pushed an update that restored 4o as an option for paying subscribers.
“I think we’ve learned a lesson about what it means to upgrade a product for hundreds of millions of people in one day,” Altman said, calling the reversal a wake-up call.
When users fall in love with their AI
One lesson from GPT-5’s launch is that people form emotional ties with AI, he noted. Some users described the new model as colder, more mechanical, and less supportive than its predecessor. After GPT-4o was deprecated, some Reddit users even said the upgrade “killed” their AI companions.
Despite the outcry on subreddits like r/MyBoyfriendisAI, r/AISoulmates, and r/AIRelationships, Altman estimated that fewer than 1% of ChatGPT users have “unhealthy relationships” with the bot but said the company is paying close attention.
“There are the people who actually felt like they had a relationship with ChatGPT,” Altman said. “Then there are hundreds of millions of others who didn’t but still got used to how it responded, validated them, and offered support.”
The challenge for GPT-6, Altman suggested, will be making the system feel personal without exploiting vulnerable users.
Building toward GPT-6
While GPT-5 is still rolling out, Altman said that OpenAI is already looking ahead, noting the timeline between GPT-5 and 6 would be much shorter than GPT-4 and 5. However, Altman said GPU capacity may impact that calculation.
“We have better models, and we just can’t offer them because we don’t have the capacity,” Altman admitted, citing a shortage of GPUs, the powerful chips needed to run large AI systems. To solve that, Altman said OpenAI would need to spend “trillions of dollars on data center construction in the not very distant future.”
Altman also used the dinner to sketch a broader future for OpenAI, including backing a brain-computer interface startup to rival Elon Musk’s Neuralink. He also floated the idea of joining the escalating bidding war for Google Chrome.
OpenAI is also collaborating with Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief, on a still-secret AI device.
Despite GPT-5’s bumpy start, ChatGPT is bigger than ever. The app now reaches more than 700 million weekly users, quadrupling its audience from a year ago. However, Altman warned of an AI bubble forming in the industry.
“Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes,” he said. “Is AI the most important thing to happen in a very long time? My opinion is also yes.”
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