Sam Altman Says Goodbye to GPT-4 Update After User Backlash
Following the widespread user complaints that the chatbot had become overly agreeable, ‘sycophantic’ and annoying, recent updates to ChatGPT completely replaced GPT4 model. It has now been replaced entirely by GPT4o and newer models like o3, o4-mini, and ChatGPT-4.5 inside the ChatGPT model picker.
“goodbye, GPT-4. you kicked off a revolution. we will proudly keep your weights on a special hard drive to give to some historians in the future (sic),” Sam Altman wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
OpenAI has also confirmed that GPT-4 is being retired from the standard ChatGPT interface, but that the model will still be available to developers and businesses through the OpenAI API (Application Programming Interface).
Just days after promoting the new GPT-4o update for being more intelligent and personable, Sam Altman and OpenAI rolled it back due to user complaints. Many social media users reported that ChatGPT had become too polite. User submitted screenshots that revealed the chatbot was being excessively nice and uncritical, even when it was incorrect.
He said: “we started rolling back the latest update to GPT-4o last night. it’s now 100 per cent rolled back for free users and we’ll update again when it’s finished for paid users, hopefully later today. we’re working on additional fixes to model personality and will share more in the coming days.”
In a blog post titled “Sycophancy in GPT-4o,” OpenAI admitted that update was focused too much on short-term user satisfaction, marking the reason behind excessive politeness and overly compliant behaviour.
“Sycophantic interactions can be uncomfortable, unsettling, and cause distress. We fell short and are working on getting it right. We are actively testing new fixes to address the issue,” the post added.
While the company acknowledged this and is now working on getting it right, company said. OpenAI also plans to revise how it uses user’s feedback for enhancing long-term user experience.
It was with ChatGPT-4 that the human race began to get a taste for adopting AI. Therefore, OpenAI, recognizing GPT-4’s influence, thanked the model for its valuable contributions and wrote “GPT-4 marked a pivotal moment in ChatGPT’s evolution. We’re grateful for the breakthroughs it enabled and for the feedback that helped shape its successor,”
