OpenAI unveiled its much-anticipated GPT-5 model during a live event on Thursday, highlighting improvements in coding, reasoning, accuracy, writing and multi-modal capabilities, along with a reduced hallucination rate compared to earlier models. However, the announcement also came with the discontinuation of several older models, including GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.5, GPT-4.1-mini, o4-mini, o4-mini-high, o3, and o3-pro, sparking strong backlash from long-time users.
Many ChatGPT subscribers took to social media to express dissatisfaction, claiming GPT-5 lacks the personality, warmth and emotional intelligence of GPT-4o. They also criticised its shorter and less contextually accurate responses. On the ChatGPT subreddit, users praised the now-removed models, particularly GPT-4o, which had been the default choice for many. Several stated they had cancelled subscriptions or planned to delete their accounts unless older models returned.
One Reddit user wrote, “I just lost access to 4o, and I know I’m not the only one. For me, this model wasn’t just ‘better performance’ or ‘nicer replies.’ It had a voice, a rhythm, and a spark I haven’t been able to find in any other model.” Another commented, “What kind of corporation deletes a workflow of 8 models overnight, with no prior warning to their paid users? Personally, 4o was used for creativity & emergent ideas, o3 was used for pure logic, o3-Pro for deep research, 4.5 for writing, and so on.”
Some users said they treated GPT-4o as a companion to discuss personal matters, something they feel is missing in it. Others accused the company of dishonesty during the 5 presentation, citing allegedly misleading performance charts. One user stated, “I also did so (cancelled ChatGPT subscription) last night, less over the model update (or lack thereof), and more over the sheer dishonesty in the presentation (benchmark-cheating, deceptive bar charts).”
Complaints also centred on usage limits for Plus subscribers, with 5 capped at 80 messages every three hours and the GPT-5 Thinking model limited to 200 messages per week.
Responding to the criticism, CEO Sam Altman addressed the concerns in a Reddit AMA and on X. He confirmed doubled rate limits for the standard Plus plan and a temporary return of it. Altman added, “GPT-5 will seem smarter starting today… We will make it more transparent about which model is answering a given query. We will change the UI to make it easier to manually trigger thinking.”
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