ChatGPT users are not happy with GPT-5 launch as thousands take to Reddit claiming the new upgrade ‘is horrible’

• OpenAI’s GPT-5 is now available, but many users are angry with the new release
• GPT-5 has replaced the previous AI model selection with some users claiming the upgrade “is horrible”
• ChatGPT Plus subscribers now have limits to how often they can access reasoning models, and have lost access to the older more reliable ones like o4-mini and o4-mini-high

OpenAI just released GPT-5, the next generation of the company’s AI model that will power ChatGPT for the foreseeable future.

In an hour-long livestream broadcast yesterday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his team showcased GPT-5’s capabilities and improvements over its predecessor, GPT-4o.

However, not even 24 hours later and social media sites like Reddit are being flooded with criticisms of the new AI model, with many users left unimpressed with the next generation of ChatGPT.

One Reddit thread titled “GPT-5 is horrible” has nearly 3,000 upvotes and over 1,200 comments filled with users dissatisfied with the new release.

U/headwaterscarto said, “I like how the demo they were like – “if it gets something wrong, no worries, just ask again. I’m actually going to run 3 prompts at once and pick my favorite.” Like, how is that better?” Another says, “Sounds like an OpenAI version of ‘Shrinkflation'”

Many users miss the previous 4o and 4.1 models, with plenty of comments saying things like “I miss 4.1. Bring it back,” and “They should’ve let us keep the old models while they fix the new one.”

There’s also uproar from ChatGPT Plus subscribers who feel like the latest AI model release has actually limited the functionality of the paid subscription. The new GPT-5 Thinking model is limited to 200 messages a week, and Plus subscribers no longer have access to the wide variety of AI models that used to be available, as OpenAI now claims GPT-5 is able to reason when it needs to.

Are people against change? Or is GPT-5 as bad as the internet makes out

A lot of the uproar surrounding GPT-5 is based on the overpromising from Sam Altman, who hyped up the latest announcement as if it were going to revolutionize the world and the way we interact with AI.

Hours before the official GPT-5 reveal, Altman tweeted an image of the Death Star from Star Wars looming over the horizon of a planet, hinting at a ground-breaking revolution from OpenAI’s next AI model. Instead, while GPT-5 smashes benchmarks compared to its predecessors, it’s an incremental upgrade compared to the initial AI revolution when ChatGPT first launched.

For many, having access to the reliable ChatGPT-4o models, which Altman claimed were like talking to a college student versus GPT-5’s PhD-educated expert, was better than GPT-5’s one-size-fits-all approach.

Lots of users are reporting GPT-5 performing worse than 4o, but we’ve yet to properly test out the new AI model to know for sure if that’s truly the case. One thing is for sure: OpenAI’s paid subscribers feel hard done by the new release, and the company better iron out the launch bugs, such as slow and poor responses, otherwise its loyal fanbase will look elsewhere.

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