GPT-5 is supposed to be nicer now

In Brief

OpenAI announced late Friday that it’s updating its latest model to be “warmer and friendlier.”

The company recently launched the much-anticipated GPT-5 in a process that CEO Sam Altman admitted was “a little more bumpy than we’d hoped for,” with some users complaining that they preferred the previous model, GPT-4o.

OpenAI is trying to address some of those complaints with this update, with changes that it says are “subtle” but will make GPT-5 “more approachable now.”

“You’ll notice small, genuine touches like ‘Good question’ or ‘Great start,’ not flattery,” the company wrote in a social media post. “Internal tests show no rise in sycophancy compared to the previous GPT-5 personality.“

At a dinner this week with journalists, OpenAI executives tried to focus on the company’s plans beyond GPT-5, but as Max Zeff reports, the rocky launch was the elephant in the room. As far as model friendliness goes, VP Nick Turley said that the GPT-5 was “just very to the point,” but that the new update would — as now announced — make it feel warmer.