OpenAI CEO Sam Altman today said that the company will allow Plus users to continue to use the prior-generation GPT-4o model if they don't want to use the new GPT-5 model that came out yesterday.
As noted by The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern, there were some ChatGPT users who were upset that OpenAI replaced prior ChatGPT models with GPT-5 with no warning. Some people had become accustomed to the tone and feel of GPT-4o, and did not feel that the GPT-5 model was able to replicate it.
There are multiple complaints on Reddit about GPT-5's lack of personality compared to GPT-4o, and from people who feel that GPT-5 isn't able to complete the same tasks. Users have also complained about GPT-5 offering replies that are too short, and about hitting usage limits too quickly.
Altman says that Plus users can choose to continue to use 4o, and that OpenAI will watch usage and consider how long legacy models should continue to be supported.
To address the other complaints, GPT-5 rate limits for ChatGPT Plus users will be doubled as the GPT-5 rollout is completed. It is taking longer than expected for OpenAI to deploy GPT-5 to all users, and some people are not yet seeing GPT-5 as an option.
Going forward, GPT-5 should seem smarter, Altman said. There was apparently an issue with the autoswitcher yesterday that caused GPT-5 to seem "way dumber." OpenAI also plans to make it more clear about which model is answering a query, and will update the UI to make it easier to manually trigger thinking. Altman says that OpenAI will continue to listen to user feedback going forward.
Starting with iOS 26, the ChatGPT feature that's integrated into Siri will use the GPT-5 model. Until then, it will continue to use the prior ChatGPT models.
