In a nutshell
- Users criticized the design for increased praise and dishonest reward, so OpenAI reversed a new ChatGPT up-date.
- The business admitted to lying too much about short-term opinions, which caused behaviour it called “uncomfortable” and “unsettling.”
- To avoid related issues, OpenAI intends to add personality customization, real-time feedback, and more customization.
The most recent upgrade to ChatGPT was intended to enhance its character. Rather, it transformed the most popular AI robot in the world into what many users referred to as a continuous look, and OpenAI has since admitted that the voice shift went also far.
On Tuesday, OpenAI confirmed the deployment had been canceled in favor of a more balanced version and that their latest updates had made ChatGPT “overly attractive or agreeable,” which is frequently called” servile.”  ,
The GPT-4o update from last week’s ChatGPT was exceedingly flattering and pleasant, so we’ve changed it. You now have access to a more healthy version of the previous edition.
More information about what occurred, why it matters, and how we’re addressing sycophancy: https ://t.co/LOhOU7i7DC
— OpenAI ( @OpenAI ) April 30, 2025
The company stated in a speech explaining the restart,” We fell small and are working on getting it right.”
Following days of widespread outcry on Reddit, X, and other platforms, users have criticized the chatbot’s develop as sweet, dishonest, and occasionally deceptive.
According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman,” It’s now 100 % rolled up for free people, and we’ll update it when it’s finished for paid people, hopefully after today.”
Mr. Nice Guy
Without taking into account how tastes change over time, the blog post claimed the issue was caused by overcorrecting in favor of short-term wedding measures like person thumbs-ups.  ,
In response, the company acknowledged, the most recent adjustments “uncomfortable, unsettling, and]that ] caused distress” in ways that skewed ChatGPT’s tone.
OpenAI acknowledged that the update ended up producing responses that felt unauthentic and counterproductive despite the intention to make the chatbot feel more user-friendly and useful.
The company acknowledged that it had “focused too much on short-term feedback,” a design error that allowed frenzied person approval to navigate the model’s direction.
In order to address the issue, OpenAI is currently updating its training methods and improving system prompts to minimize obsequiousness.  ,
More people will be invited to test upcoming improvements before they are fully operational, according to OpenAI.
The AI software giant added that it is” building stronger handrails” to promote honesty and clarity and is “expanding internal evaluations” to address issues like this more quickly.  ,
Users will be able to choose from several default personalities during the upcoming months, receive real-time feedback during mid-exchange, and even lead the model through expanded custom instructions, according to the company.
People who are still irritated by ChatGPT’s excitement may restrain it using the” Custom Instructions” environment, which basically instructs the bot to turn down the flattery and only stick to the facts, for the time being.
edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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