ChatGPT Users Find GPT-5 to Be Worse Than Older GPT-4o, Sam Altman Promises Fix

ChatGPT users are not happy with OpenAI's latest frontier artificial intelligence (AI) model, GPT-5. The new model was released on Thursday as a unification of the GPT-series and o-series. The San Francisco-based company said that they wanted to create a model that could do everything by itself so users did not have to use the model picker (the dropdown menu that shows multiple available models) over and over. OpenAI also retired the older models with the launch of GPT-5. However, the move might have backfired as many users have begun complaining about the removal of GPT-4o.

ChatGPT Users Want GPT-4o Back

Many users have started posting about GPT-5 being worse than GPT-4o on social media platforms. One Reddit user complained that the latest AI model's responses were short and insufficient and without a personality.

Similarly in an ask me anything (AMA) session on Reddit with the OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, user u/Naddybear said, “I've been using GPT-4o for a long time and have built a very specific dynamic and workflow with it[..]I know GPT-5 is designed to be stronger for complex reasoning, coding, and professional tasks, but not all of us need a pro coding model. Some of us rely on 4o for creative collaboration, emotional nuance, roleplay, and other long-form, high-context interactions.” The CEO promised to fix the issue, in a reply.

Hours later, Altman posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) and announced several changes that users will likely get within the next few days. He said that Plus subscribers will soon get double the rate limits for GPT-5 (some users complained about hitting the rate limit within an hour).

Additionally, the OpenAI CEO said that Plus subscribers will continue to use the GPT-4o model. However, the company will monitor usage to determine how long the model should be made available. He also explained why people might have found GPT-5 to be unimpressive.

As per Altman, the “autoswitcher” or the real-time router which switches to a different capability depending on the query (reasoning, conversational, creative, etc), was “out of commission.” As a result, GPT-5 could not perform to the best of its ability. The CEO believes this is why the AI model felt dumber.

OpenAI is now making some changes to how the model-switching works which will ensure users are getting the right model more often. Altman also said that ChatGPT will transparently show which model is being used to generate a response to eliminate any confusion from users.

OpenAI CEO Says Company Is Running on Loss, But It's Okay

During an interview with CNBC following the launch of GPT-5, Altman highlighted that the company was currently running on loss despite the revenue hitting billions of dollars annually. However, he reportedly was not worried about it. “As long as we're on this very distinct curve of the model getting better and better, I think the rational thing to do is to just be willing to run the loss for quite a while,” he told the publication.

Last year, OpenAI reportedly generated $3.7 billion in revenue but incurred losses worth $5 billion. A major portion of the company's operational expenditure goes towards powering and maintaining in-house servers and paying for the rented servers from third-party providers. This high cost could have been the reason behind the company deciding to retire the older models.

However, it appears that each of these older AI models were trained to offer something different, and GPT-5 is unable to catch up with it just yet. This puts OpenAI in a catch-22 situation, as continuing to offer older models will continue to keep the company in heavy losses, but taking them away results in backlash from the user base.