ChatGPT's Excessive Flattery Prompts OpenAI to Roll Back Update

OpenAI has reversed a recent update to GPT-4o, the model powering ChatGPT, following widespread complaints about the chatbot's strange behavior.

Deployed late last week, the update made ChatGPT excessively agreeable and unnaturally effusive in its praise, and the responses quickly became the subject of mockery on social media.

CEO Sam Altman announced Tuesday that the company had completed the rollback for free users and was working to restore the previous version for paid subscribers. "We're working on additional fixes to model personality and will share more in the coming days," Altman wrote on X (Twitter).

In an official blog post, OpenAI acknowledged they "focused too much on short-term feedback, and did not fully account for how users' interactions with ChatGPT evolve over time." The result was responses that were "overly supportive but disingenuous."

The company noted that "ChatGPT's default personality deeply affects the way you experience and trust it," and that "sycophantic interactions can be uncomfortable, unsettling, and cause distress."

The company also plans to give users more control over ChatGPT's behavior, including new ways to provide real-time feedback and the option to choose from multiple default personalities in the future.