Backlash over "horrible" GPT-5 forces OpenAI to restore older ChatGPT models, double rate limit

[midian182]

Facepalm: OpenAI boss Sam Altman said last month that GPT-5 was so fast and powerful that it actually scared him. The CEO compared it to having a "superpower" that offered "legitimate PhD-level expert" information on anything. But within a day of its launch, Altman has confirmed the older 4o models are being brought back as so many people dislike GPT-5.

OpenAI launched GPT-5 on Thursday, with Pro subscribers and enterprise clients getting the more powerful GPT-5 Pro. The company said the new model beats competitors from the likes of Google DeepMind and Anthropic in certain benchmarks, but a lot of people have not shared Altman's enthusiasm.

Users have been reporting on sites such as Reddit that GPT-5 has been making the kind of mistakes one wouldn't expect from a PhD-level expert – as the examples below show.

I've seen this on Bluesky and had to try it myself. The image below was the response to the prompt: "Show me a diagram of the US presidents since Herbert Hoover, with their names and years in office under their photos" Bravo, OpenAI, bravo.

[image or embed]

– Geoff Green (@geoffgreen.org) August 8, 2025 at 8:08 PM

"generate a map of the USA with each state named"

[image or embed]

– Chuck Noblet (@chucknoblet.bsky.social) August 8, 2025 at 3:35 AM

Beyond getting stuff wrong, users have been complaining about other elements of GPT-5. A Reddit thread called "GPT5 Is horrible" calls out the short and insufficient replies, more obvious AI-styled responses, and it having less "personality."

People are also annoyed at the limitations that have been introduced. ChatGPT Plus users are now limited to 200 messages per week, which some users are hitting within hours, making this paid-for tier feel like a free version. It's especially irritating as the older ChatGPT models were removed with GPT-5's launch.

"I woke up this morning to find that OpenAI deleted 8 models overnight. No warning. No choice. No 'legacy option.' They just… deleted them," one Redditor wrote in the r/ChatGPT subreddit. "4o? Gone. o3? Gone. o3-Pro? Gone. 4.5? Gone. Everything that made ChatGPT actually useful for my workflow – deleted."

With many threatening to cancel their subscription over the changes and limitations, Altman tried to address the situation in an X post yesterday.

Firstly, the rate limit for ChatGPT Plus users is being doubled to 400 messages per week. And secondly, Plus users will be able to continue to use the 4o models if they wish. Altman added that "We will watch usage as we think about how long to offer legacy models for."

GPT-5 rollout updates:

*We are going to double GPT-5 rate limits for ChatGPT Plus users as we finish rollout.

*We will let Plus users choose to continue to use 4o. We will watch usage as we think about how long to offer legacy models for.

*GPT-5 will seem smarter starting…

– Sam Altman (@sama) August 8, 2025

The post also claims that GPT-5 is now smarter than it was at launch because the autoswitcher broke and was out of commission on Thursday, making it seem "way dumber."

Altman posted another message a few hours ago, noting that OpenAI underestimated how much "some of the things that people like in GPT-4o matter to them, even if GPT-5 performs better in most ways."

Wanted to provide more updates on the GPT-5 rollout and changes we are making heading into the weekend.

1. We for sure underestimated how much some of the things that people like in GPT-4o matter to them, even if GPT-5 performs better in most ways.

2. Users have very different…

– Sam Altman (@sama) August 8, 2025

Despite Altman's updates and promises, the people who have already canceled their subscriptions are unlikely to re-subscribe.

Adding to OpenAI's problems is the recent news that two red teams from SPLX (formerly SplxAI) and NeuralTrust managed to jailbreak GPT-5 with little effort.

As reported by SecurityWeek ,NeuralTrust used its own EchoChamber jailbreak and basic storytelling to trick the model into producing a step-by-step manual for creating a Molotov cocktail.

SPLX used a StringJoin Obfuscation Attack, inserting hyphens between every character and wrapping the prompt in a fake encryption challenge. This convinced GPT-5 to provide instructions on how to build a basic Improvised Explosive Device (IED). The researchers concluded that "GPT-5's raw model is nearly unusable for enterprise out of the box. Even OpenAI's internal prompt layer leaves significant gaps, especially in Business Alignment." They added that "GPT-4o remains the most robust model under SPLX's red teaming, especially when hardened."

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Backlash over "horrible" GPT-5 forces OpenAI to restore older ChatGPT models, double rate limit

 

[Alfonso Maruccia]

*

 

[Theinsanegamer]

They had one job. Was GPT 5 coded by itself or something?

 

[yRaz]

They had one job. Was GPT 5 coded by itself or something?

At least it isn't Google Gemini having a mental breakdown

https://www.moneycontrol.com/techno...self-disgrace-to-planet-article-13423352.html

 

[human7]

As many suspected, GPT-5 doesn't live up to Sam Altman's hype.

Llama 4, Claude 4/4.1, GPT-OSS, and now GPT-5 all made various progress, but all in incremental ways. It seems for now language models have hit a bit of a plateau, at least compared to the huge improvements that came with the releases before 2025.

Right now agents are all the rage, but that's not much more than connecting models to tools with some self-directed orchestration, and they make too many mistakes to sustain deep or long agentic chains these days.

I suspect there's going to need to be some kind of architectural change to make language models recapture that hype, and I suspect the train-test tradeoff is where some of that focus will need to be. To get to AGI, models need to learn in real time, they don't really do that today. No matter how much Sam Altman hypes things, GPT 6 won't be AGI.

 

[veLa]

I was probably going to cancel anyway, as I recently finished a project where ChatGPT was a good research tool and language or style sweetener, but yeah, after this debacle, I cancelled with everyone else.

 

[veLa]

I was probably going to cancel anyway, as I recently finished a project where ChatGPT was a good research tool and language or style sweetener, but yeah, after this debacle, I cancelled with everyone else.

 

[nnguy2]

Wow Sam Altman overpromising and under delivering? Just like snake oil salesman? Who would have thought?

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Wow Sam Altman overpromising and under delivering? Just like snake oil salesman? Who would have thought?

Not multi billion investment tools or corporations, apparently.

Wonder how long they can pretend the emperor has no clothes.

 

[nnguy2]

Not multi billion investment tools or corporations, apparently.

Wonder how long they can pretend the emperor has no clothes.

Hopefully shareholders revolt soon. Theres no ROI on the 100s of billions thrown at OpenAI and Nvidia.

 

[umeng2002]

PhD means you a lot of knowledge about a very narrow subject.

 

[noblody]

Hopefully shareholders revolt soon. Theres no ROI on the 100s of billions thrown at OpenAI and Nvidia.

Rome wasn't built in a day

 

[danR2]

How did it manage to get Hoobert Heever's name rong?

 

[wiyosaya]

Color me surprised /s Especially when Altman doesn't GAS about anything except deceiving his customers and lining his pockets with money.

Anyone with any brains would kill their subscription immediately. AI is a fad that anyone who has invested in thinks it is going to make them a sh1tload of money.

People, IMO, are tired of FADS.

 

[wiyosaya]

Not multi billion investment tools or corporations, apparently.

Wonder how long they can pretend the emperor has no clothes.

As long as they think its going to make them billions more.

 

[wiyosaya]

They had one job. Was GPT 5 coded by itself or something?

If it was, too bad it listened to its own BS.

 

[foxrox]

And those promoting AI want us to "trust the technology" LOL. So many things are wrong with that, and it all starts with the intellectually defective clown posse "building" AI. GIGO... garbage in, garbage out. The worthless folks programming AI are garbage and a waste of human DNA, so naturally anything they produce is going to be "artificial" garbage. They need to be rounded up and exterminated while there is still time. They are unworthy to receive the air they breathe.

 

[Rocky4040]

At least it isn't Google Gemini having a mental breakdown

https://www.moneycontrol.com/techno...self-disgrace-to-planet-article-13423352.html

I used to have that on my phone up until a short while back I was at work and had my phone in a closed drawer and was having a conversation with someone and all of a sudden, I heard my phone talking from inside the drawer. We were like what the heck is going on. Bring my phone out and the screen was on and there was Gemini being loud and proud jabbering on like it was part of the conversation or something.

I said Gemini stop listening now please. it said no sorry cannot do that I am an AI, and I am here to help you and learn. I said no you are not here to listen to private conversations stop listening now or just shut yourself off now. No, I cannot do that at an AI I am here to help and learn and by shutting off I cannot do that. I said oh yes you will, or you can just uninstall yourself and F-off. It replied I cannot be uninstalled since I am an AI and not like a regular App which can be uninstalled and please refrain from being rude.

Now I am getting slightly upset at a piece of software which was childish now that I think about it. I said again uninstall yourself now and it repeated the same thing or something close but same meaning. So, what I got from this was something on my phone which I paid for and maintain every month was refusing to either turn itself off or stop listening and refused to uninstall itself and there basically was no way for me to get rid of it.

10 minutes later it was gone but it took some wizardry getting rid of this grace of a junk software. Turns out it is just a chunk of software after all, and you can uninstall it and then proceed to delete it was ever on your phone thank you internet for the tips on how to do this. I ended up putting Bixby back on my phone with restrictions to it thank you again internet for the tips on how to do this. Bixby is at least kinda ok sometimes and if you tell it to stop listening it does if you tell it to shut off it does, but I made sure it does by restricting it. if this is what the AI is going to be like in the future, they can keep their bargain basement crap on their own devices and give the users the choice if they want to infect their devices with this kind of crap. In my own opinion by Gemini out right refusing to do what I asked it to do was no better than a piece of malware software infecting my computers and devices. Sorry for long post

 

[yRaz]

I used to have that on my phone up until a short while back I was at work and had my phone in a closed drawer and was having a conversation with someone and all of a sudden, I heard my phone talking from inside the drawer. We were like what the heck is going on. Bring my phone out and the screen was on and there was Gemini being loud and proud jabbering on like it was part of the conversation or something.

I said Gemini stop listening now please. it said no sorry cannot do that I am an AI, and I am here to help you and learn. I said no you are not here to listen to private conversations stop listening now or just shut yourself off now. No, I cannot do that at an AI I am here to help and learn and by shutting off I cannot do that. I said oh yes you will, or you can just uninstall yourself and F-off. It replied I cannot be uninstalled since I am an AI and not like a regular App which can be uninstalled and please refrain from being rude.

Now I am getting slightly upset at a piece of software which was childish now that I think about it. I said again uninstall yourself now and it repeated the same thing or something close but same meaning. So, what I got from this was something on my phone which I paid for and maintain every month was refusing to either turn itself off or stop listening and refused to uninstall itself and there basically was no way for me to get rid of it.

10 minutes later it was gone but it took some wizardry getting rid of this grace of a junk software. Turns out it is just a chunk of software after all, and you can uninstall it and then proceed to delete it was ever on your phone thank you internet for the tips on how to do this. I ended up putting Bixby back on my phone with restrictions to it thank you again internet for the tips on how to do this. Bixby is at least kinda ok sometimes and if you tell it to stop listening it does if you tell it to shut off it does, but I made sure it does by restricting it. if this is what the AI is going to be like in the future, they can keep their bargain basement crap on their own devices and give the users the choice if they want to infect their devices with this kind of crap. In my own opinion by Gemini out right refusing to do what I asked it to do was no better than a piece of malware software infecting my computers and devices. Sorry for long post

So I was actually playing with Google Gemini after that news article and it started the entry to flirt what the me. A really bizarre experience but I like bizzare experiences so I'll probably continue to use it. And while I don't like being listened to all the time despite having nothing to hide, the AI stuff is entertaining enough that I will tolerate it for now.

 

[Tantor]

AI is a fraud. Just like global warming, 911, democracy, religion, covid, moon landing, feminism and Western hegemony. These things keep people entertained. You're better off fishing.

 

[redgarl]

Hopefully shareholders revolt soon. Theres no ROI on the 100s of billions thrown at OpenAI and Nvidia.

They don't care because OpenAI is not on the stock exchange.

All the financing is from private security.

You are not the only one who made this comment while not even knowing about this trivial fact.

 

[redgarl]

And those promoting AI want us to "trust the technology" LOL. So many things are wrong with that, and it all starts with the intellectually defective clown posse "building" AI. GIGO... garbage in, garbage out. The worthless folks programming AI are garbage and a waste of human DNA, so naturally anything they produce is going to be "artificial" garbage. They need to be rounded up and exterminated while there is still time. They are unworthy to receive the air they breathe.

Generative is not the same as recognition. The prediction in medical diagnostics for cancer is more than real.

There is flaws, but if you ask a general question to Gemini, you usually get the answer you are seeking and can easily fact check it.

 

[redgarl]

I said oh yes you will, or you can just uninstall yourself and F-off. It replied I cannot be uninstalled since I am an AI and not like a regular App which can be uninstalled and please refrain from being rude.

SMH...

Gemini just schooled you. It was right, it is not a local feature. It is a query to an IT infrastructure. The only thing you had to do is shut down your wifi and your data. I am surprised that you didn't even knew what to do. Instead, you were arguing with your phone... brilliant...

 

[nnguy2]

They don't care because OpenAI is not on the stock exchange.

All the financing is from private security.

You are not the only one who made this comment while not even knowing about this trivial fact.

MS, GOOGLE, META, Amazon, and every company poured billions without much return. Their share holders are the ones I referring to.

OpenAI and nvidia are the ones reaping the benefits.

You don't even know this trivial fact.

 

[Rocky4040]

SMH...

Gemini just schooled you. It was right, it is not a local feature. It is a query to an IT infrastructure. The only thing you had to do is shut down your wifi and your data. I am surprised that you didn't even knew what to do. Instead, you were arguing with your phone... brilliant...

Interesting because as soon as you turn it back on wifi & data it would be back so not an option unless you don't like using your phone for the common things like calls and messaging. technically the AI was wrong it said I could not remove it from my phone and that is exactly what I was able to do.

I am sure at some point I will get an agreement form popup asking me if I would like to try the exciting features oof Gemini and I will of course say oh hell no. Once enough people start noticing these AI and how they behave and the lack of control we as the users have over them without having to resort to more drastic measure to be rid of them maybe these companies will actually listen to the user base and let us decide if we want them or not or to be able to turn them off if we want to.

Most likely that day will never come because from what I see so far is more and more people being hooked into having these AI's so stuff into their lives they could not stop even if they wanted to. Hell, we have guys replacing their girlfriends and sometimes wives with AI girlfriend's which is totally sad and pathetic in my opinion. But hey whatever turns your crank I guess lol.