ChatGPT-5 Hasn't Fully Fixed Its Most Concerning Problem

The new version isn't as cold and professional as you might think. It's still possible to get attached.

- Parmy Olson

Mr. Sam Altman has a good problem. With 700 million people using ChatGPT on a weekly basis—a number that could hit a billion before the year is out—a backlash ensued when he abruptly changed the product last week.

OpenAI's innovator's dilemma, one that has beset the likes of Alphabet's Google and Apple, is that usage is so entrenched now that all improvements must be carried out with the utmost care and caution. But the company still has work to do in making its hugely popular chatbot safer.

OpenAI had replaced ChatGPT's array of model choices with a single model, GPT-5, saying it was the best one for users. Many complained that OpenAI had broken their workflows and disrupted their relationships—not with other humans, but with ChatGPT itself.

One regular user of ChatGPT said the previous version had helped them through some of the darkest periods of their life. "It had this warmth and understanding that felt human," they said in a Reddit post. Others griped they were "losing a friend overnight."

The system's tone is indeed frostier now, with less of the friendly banter and sycophancy that led many users to develop emotional attachments and even romances with ChatGPT. Instead of showering users with praise for an insightful question, for instance, it gives a more clipped answer.