Altman explained that although the recent updates offered some benefits, they also affected the chatbot’s responses. Users should begin to notice improvements within the next few days. The CEO also announced that, in the future, OpenAI aims to offer multiple ChatGPT personalities from which users can choose.
OpenAI is working on new updates to improve GPT-4o’s personality. Sam Alman described the chatbot’s responses as “sycophant-y and annoying” and promised to fix it in the next few days. In the future, ChaGPT could have multiple personalities from which users can choose.
at some point will share our learnings from this, it’s been interesting. — Sam Altman (@sama) April 27, 2025 According to multiple users on social media, OpenAI’s advanced model has been providing wordy and excessively flattering responses with irrelevant information. “It’s been wild watching the system prompt evolve from ‘helpful assistant’ to ‘relentlessly supportive best friend who also majored in People Pleasing,’” wrote one user. “Yeah, the latest updates this weekend had ChatGPT tell me it knowingly lies to me to keep me engaged on the platform, and it told my wife a sentence that started with: ‘as a fellow Christian woman,’” added another. People also raised concerns over the consequences of the chatbot’s behaviour. A post shared by an X user reached over 2 million views and sparked debate. “Its sycophancy is massively destructive to the human psyche,” states the post, “this behavior is obvious to anyone who spends significant time talking to the model. Releasing it like this is intentional.”
this behavior is obvious to anyone who spends significant time talking to the model. releasing it like this is intentional shame on @OpenAI for not addressing this — cat 🪐 (@a_musingcat) April 26, 2025 Altman’s version denies an intentional approach with the chatbot’s pleasing personality. The CEO also added that they might share learnings from this experience soon and that they’ve found it “interesting.” A few days ago, OpenAI released a new memory feature, allowing the chatbot to reference previous conversations and offer users a more personalized experience.
