GPT 5 - Why OpenAI's latest LLM became unpopular?

When OpenAI announced the release of ChatGPT-5, anticipation reached a fever pitch. Billed as the next leap forward in AI intelligence, reasoning, and personalization, GPT-5 was promised to revolutionize the AI assistant experience. But months after launch, the excitement has fizzled—replaced by frustration, confusion, and a growing sense that the company may have miscalculated both the rollout and the retirement of its predecessor, GPT-4o.

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The Hype: What GPT-5 Promised

Prior to release, internal leaks and official teasers hinted at massive upgrades:

• Human-like conversation with persistent memory

• Deeper emotional intelligence

• Cross-modal reasoning across text, voice, and vision

• More consistent personalities and context awareness

• Improved coding and problem-solving

OpenAI's branding focused heavily on words like “general intelligence,” “reliability,” and “natural communication.” With GPT-4o already considered a marvel for its fast reasoning and multi-modal capabilities, users expected GPT-5 to be a game-changer.

While GPT-5 did bring some improvements—slightly faster responses, a more robust memory system for Pro users, and subtle boosts in reasoning—it largely failed to deliver a groundbreaking leap. Key criticisms included:

• Diminished personality: Many users complained GPT-5 feels “sanitized,” lacking the warmth and flexibility of 4o.

• Weaker performance in creative tasks: Writers and artists noted a drop in imaginative outputs compared to GPT-4o.

• Over-correction in safety: GPT-5 sometimes refused benign requests or inserted unnecessary disclaimers, leading to a stilted user experience.

• Memory bugs and context confusion: Despite boasting improved memory, some users reported regression in long conversations or character consistency.

Ironically, GPT-4o—once considered experimental—was often preferred for creative tasks, playful tone, and quicker responsiveness.

The Backlash: Retiring GPT-4o Was a Mistake

In what many now view as a strategic blunder, OpenAI retired GPT-4o for most users shortly after GPT-5’s debut. The rationale? Streamlining models, reducing confusion, and pushing adoption of the latest tech.

But it backfired.

• Users who depended on 4o’s speed and personality protested across forums.

• Creative professionals and power users voiced that 4o was still more fun, fluid, and adaptable.

• OpenAI’s help channels and Reddit communities flooded with requests to bring 4o back.

Instead of celebrating a successful upgrade, OpenAI found itself on the defensive, issuing patches and promising refinements to GPT-5's tone and flexibility.

GPT-5 isn’t a bad model—but it’s not the revolution it claimed to be. And in retiring GPT-4o too quickly, OpenAI underestimated how attached users had become to its capabilities. Innovation is essential, but so is respecting the value of what already works.

Eventually GPT 4o was brought back for use of ChatGPT plus users. For those who have the plus subscription they can now use 4o model again.