OpenAI Updates GPT-5 to Be 'Warmer and Friendlier' Following User Feedback

GPT-5 just got made 'warmer and friendlier' with a big personality update -- here's why

GPT-5 has received a rather mixed reception so far. For some, it's been a significant upgrade across the board. For others, it's been a let-down, and if anything, it made the tool worse. OpenAI is now trying to fix that with a variety of small changes and upgrades. The latest of which is to make the model warmer and friendlier. In a post on X, OpenAI stated: "We're making GPT-5 warmer and friendlier based on feedback that it felt too formal before. Changes are subtle, but ChatGPT should feel more approachable now." OpenAI has often struggled to get the tone of its model correct. In the past, it has been made far too sycophantic, overly praising users and sometimes telling them they were correct, even if they were wrong. The post goes on to say: "You'll notice small, genuine touches like "Good question" or "Great start", not flattery. Internal tests show no rise in sycophancy compared to the previous GPT-5 personality. Changes may take up to a day to roll out." It's not immediately clear exactly how much has changed here, but OpenAI is clearly struggling to get the chatbot's tone nailed down. GPT-5 offered a variety of customisation options for the model's personality. You can make it more chatty, blunt, witty or reply with a certain style to its writing. But OpenAI is also trying to make the default voice more likeable too. The success of this is hard to measure, but you can see how each chatbot has it's own style Anthropic's Claude, for example, is more straightforward and with fewer 'personality' traits. But OpenAI prefers ChatGPT to be 'friendly,' which comes with its own challenges. Where OpenAI once enjoyed seemingly endless support on its decisions, that seems to be changing. The replies to the company's post on X involved a lot of outcry and one common opinion; that GPT-5 isn't what they were promised. "This is not at all what people want. I do not want it to pretend to be human, I want it to dispense information parsimoniously [ed's note: efficiently]. Please do not force the silent majority to suffer due to the predictions of the vocal minority," said X user Mark Valorian. Another user, Gosucoder, followed up with "No, please don't do this, what this change does is just reinforce that GPT-5 is more for people that build attachment to AI instead of using it as a tool." The launch of GPT-5 certainly hasn't gone as smoothly as OpenAI would have liked. This is just one of many concerns users have raised about the tool. But maybe, this latest update will do enough to ease those worries people have about running an over-friendly ChatGPT.

GPT-5 is now friendlier than before

OpenAI announced an update to its GPT-5 model late Friday, intending to make the artificial intelligence "warmer and friendlier" following user feedback indicating a preference for the prior GPT-4o model. The company launched GPT-5, a process CEO Sam Altman described as "a little more bumpy than we'd hoped for." This update aims to address user complaints about GPT-5's initial personality, with OpenAI stating the changes are "subtle" but will make the model "more approachable now." OpenAI elaborated on the nature of these changes in a social media post, noting, "You'll notice small, genuine touches like 'Good question' or 'Great start,' not flattery." The company also reported that "Internal tests show no rise in sycophancy compared to the previous GPT-5 personality." During a recent dinner with journalists, OpenAI executives, including VP Nick Turley, discussed future plans. Turley stated that the initial GPT-5 was "just very to the point," acknowledging the model's directness before this announced update to enhance its warmth.

OpenAI Tweaks GPT-5 to Make Its Responses Warmer and Friendlier

Sam Altman said the team is working on customising ChatGPT's style 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.

OpenAI makes GPT-5 'friendly' again after users complain of cold responses - The Economic Times

Commenting on the change, CEO Sam Altman said on X that user attachment to specific AI personalities had been stronger than the company anticipated. "The real solution here remains letting users customize ChatGPT's style much more. We are working that," his post read.OpenAI has updated the personality of its newest model, GPT-5, to make it "warmer and friendlier" just a week after launch. This comes after users complained online that the AI model was too formal and robotic in its responses compared to earlier ones. Commenting on the change, CEO Sam Altman said on X that user attachment to specific AI personalities had been stronger than the company anticipated. "The real solution here remains letting users customize ChatGPT's style much more. We are working that," his post read. The issue arose after GPT-5 was launched on August 7, when users flooded Reddit with complaints about the model's cold, corporate tone. Users who were used to a certain emotional behaviour from the bot, demonstrated by simple phrases such as "Great question" or "great start", felt unsettled with the new model. The much-anticipated GPT-5 launch has been marred by controversies. OpenAI had initially removed access to legacy models without warning, forcing everyone to use the new model, which also drew a backlash from users. The updated GPT-5 now offers users three distinct modes: "Auto," "Fast," and "Thinking," giving users greater control over the AI's behaviour and response style. "One lesson we've learned from the past few days is that we need to create a system that allows for more individual customization of model personality," Altman said in response to the backlash online. The CEO admitted being surprised by users' strong attachment to specific AI models, calling it "different and stronger than the kinds of attachment people have had to previous kinds of technology". Beyond personality concerns, GPT-5's launch was also impacted by technical problems, including a malfunctioning router that misrouted user queries to cheaper, less capable models. During a Reddit 'Ask me anything' (AMA) session, Altman and members of the GPT-5 team faced a deluge of feedback from users. Many were unhappy with the new model and asked for GPT-4o to be brought back, especially those who had built their workflows around it. OpenAI quickly reversed course, restoring access to GPT-4o and increasing rate limits to 3,000 messages per week for GPT-5's reasoning functionality.