OpenAI Says GPT-5 Is Now ‘Warmer and Friendlier’ After Users Complained About Cold Treatment

OpenAI updated the GPT-5 artificial intelligence (AI) model on Saturday to make its responses “warmer and friendlier.” The San Francisco-based AI firm highlighted that it has tweaked the model so that it would not appear cold or rude to users. The updated version of the large language model (LLM) is currently being rolled out to all users globally. Notably, several users had complained that the style of output generation of GPT-5 felt different from older models. Many have also found GPT-4o to be better at conversations than the frontier LLM.

GPT-5 Is Now More Approachable Without Any Rise in Sycophancy

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the official OpenAI handle announced that GPT-5 has been updated, and its responses will now be restructured. “Changes are subtle, but ChatGPT should feel more approachable now,” the post added.

The AI firm stated that users should now notice subtle and genuine emotional nuances in the responses of the AI model. However, the company added that these are not signs of flattery as the developers have not noticed any rise in the sycophancy level of the model's personality.

In response to the post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated, “Most users should like GPT-5 better soon,” but added that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the problem. Altman added that the company is currently working on a new feature that will allow users to customise ChatGPT's style much more, allowing them the freedom to get their desired responses.

Notably, the entire discussion around GPT-5's responses began after several users complained that the LLM's responses felt less emotionally intelligent compared to GPT-4o. The backlash was severe as OpenAI had retired the older AI models, taking away users' access to 4o. However, last week, the company announced that GPT-4o, as well as 4.1 and 4.5 models, were being reinstated as legacy models for paid subscribers.

While OpenAI has said that these models are back indefinitely, it has also added that if it decides to sunset these models in the future, users will get a sufficient notice period.