After public backlash over GPT-5’s rollout, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted the company “screwed up,” and said the fallout is already shaping the next version of ChatGPT. At a private dinner with reporters in San Francisco, first reported by The Verge, Altman admitted that GPT-5’s launch upset many of ChatGPT’s hundreds of millions of users. “I think we totally screwed up some things on the rollout,” he said. The misstep centered on OpenAI’s decision to replace ChatGPT’s default “4o” model, which was widely praised for its warmth and conversational style, with GPT-5. User backlash on Reddit and X was swift, with some users threatening to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions. Following the backlash, OpenAI pushed an update that restored 4o as an option for paying subscribers. “I think we’ve learned a lesson about what it means to upgrade a product for hundreds of millions of people in one day,” Altman said, calling the reversal a wake-up call. One lesson from GPT-5’s launch is that people form emotional ties with AI, he noted. Some users described the new model as colder, more mechanical, and less supportive than its predecessor. After GPT-4o was deprecated, some Reddit users even said the upgrade “killed” their AI companions.

Full report : Sam Altman admits OpenAI ‘totally screwed up’ its GPT-5 launch and says the company will put extra effort in ChatGPT 6.