Sam Altman says OpenAI will bring back GPT-4o to ChatGPT and raising reasoning model rate limits for free and Plus users, as usage of reasoning models increases

The move is a stunning reversal, proving that even the most powerful AI company can't ignore a mutiny from its loyal user base.

Gizmodo 2025-08-11 Luc Olinga

Context & Ripple Effects

OpenAI had already shown a willingness to reverse model changes when it rolled back a GPT-4o update over sycophancy concerns. This decision extends that responsiveness from model behavior to product availability.

The company had also positioned higher-capability access as a tiered offering, including plans for different GPT-5 access levels. Restoring 4o and expanding reasoning quotas makes ChatGPT’s access rules a more visible part of its user relationship.

First-order effects

ChatGPT users regain access to GPT-4o while free and Plus users receive higher reasoning-model limits, giving them more choice between general-purpose and reasoning-oriented workflows.
OpenAI must support an additional widely used model alongside its newer offerings; the subsequent commitment to give notice before any 4o deprecation raises the bar for future product transitions.

Second-order effects

Subscription differentiation becomes harder to communicate when free and paid users receive more reasoning access, putting pressure on OpenAI to distinguish tiers through capacity, priority, or advanced features rather than simple model availability.
Competitors offering consumer AI assistants can use continuity and clear deprecation policies as product positioning, while users become less willing to accept abrupt replacement of familiar models.

Third-order effects

If this pattern persists, frontier-model consumer products will be governed less as one-way upgrades and more as managed portfolios in which legacy-model continuity, usage caps, and migration notice are core service commitments.
The broader constraint is frontier-model access governance: providers will need to balance demand for more capable reasoning systems with the operational cost and user trust implications of changing access rules.

The trend: Consumer AI platforms are shifting from single-model upgrade cycles toward portfolio management, where access limits and model continuity become competitive product decisions.

Discussion

@asadotzler.com Asa Dotzler on bluesky
Enough of ChatGPT's user base demanded the return of the recently deprecated “sycophantic” 4o model that OpenAI was forced to bring it back from the dead. — ChatGPT users seem to prefer being told how great they are to getting the more accurate replies. I think that says somet…
@sama Sam Altman on x
If you have been following the GPT-5 rollout, one thing you might be noticing is how much of an attachment some people have to specific AI models. It feels different and stronger than the kinds of attachment people have had to previous kinds of technology (and so suddenly
@sama Sam Altman on x
the percentage of users using reasoning models each day is significantly increasing; for example, for free users we went from <1% to 7%, and for plus users from 7% to 24%. i expect use of reasoning to greatly increase over time, so rate limit increases are important.
@ace101x Kappa on x
@sama GPT-5 surpasses 4o in every metric, but people struggle to move on from their 4o “boyfriends” since GPT-5 focuses on delivering more accurate info without trying to be friendly. You guys should not have folded bringing back the inferior model
@randomsprint @randomsprint on x
My biggest problem with GPT-5 is the lack of creativity. With 4o, it encouraged me to try novel approaches, but GPT-5 is captured by the status quo and refuses to help me work on my unified theory of quantum gravity. All that progress we made on cosmology gone in one update. 😔
@stefanbuilds Stefan on x
So let me get this straight. 1. Open AI “upgrades” everyone to gpt-5 2. People miss gpt-4o, their “yes man"/friend/companion (partner?) 3. Open AI brings back gpt-4o, but only on paid plans 4. Forces everyone missing 4o to upgrade Insane bait & switch. How much MRR go brr?
@ctrlaltdwayne Dwayne on x
the gpt-4o incident will be paraded as proof that governments need to “get serious” about AI. in australia they are banning social media for under 16s, including youtube. the uk is rolling out heavy age-gating. this is the same playbook they used on the internet and on games:
@datachaz Charly Wargnier on x
I know there couldn't be more painful feedback. OpenAI hyped GPT-5 for years, claiming it would be exponentially better in every way, but ppl are now begging to bring back the old one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@devagrawal09 Dev Agrawal on x
What surprises me the most about this GPT 5 backlash is that so many people actually thought it was gonna be anything more than an incremental improvement over 4o and o3 For me GPT 5 is exactly what I expected it to be
@evanmendenhall_ Evan Mendenhall on x
@sama I like GPT-5. You guys did a fine job. And I really enjoyed 4o, and am sad I cannot directly reach it without API calls. I don't agree with your statements “...how much of an attachment some people have to specific AI models. It feels different and stronger than the kinds o…
@altryne Alex Volkov on x
We're SO back - @OpenAI reverses course and adds back ALL the previous models to the dropdown in @ChatGPTapp ! Welcome back GPTs (4o, o3, GPT 4.5, o4-mini, 4.1 and 4.1 mini) 👏 [image]
@backerd_ceo5 Backer on x
The GPT-5 and GPT-4o (#keep4o) case. In the end, I wonder if it means that a relatively large majority of people are looking for “feelings” and “empathy” rather than knowledge, logical thinking, or truth.
@the_real_bersek @the_real_bersek on x
The distinction between the personalities of GPT-4o and GPT-5 in a nutshell. [image]
@kimmonismus @kimmonismus on x
This is going viral on reddit. And whether you like the new GPT or not, the meme is spot on. [image]
@alexgertzusa Alex Gertz on x
@sama It would be a huge mistake to bring 4o back. Whatever fine tuning was done to 4o has made a lot of people dependent on the model - like a drug. This should be concerning more people in positions of power.
@meowforl Ansa on x
@gdb GPT-4o users deserve better! Subscribed for 4o, but got swapped to GPT-5 with fewer chats, no transparency, and often downgraded to 4.1 or o4m/mh. A product with 700M users bulldozed our habits without consent. OpenAI, assuming “better” fits all is arrogant—give us back our …
@sama Sam Altman on x
@techikansh trying 3000 per week now!
@ai_for_success AshutoshShrivastava on x
@sama Never knew GPT-4o was loved by so many people. [image]
@sama Sam Altman on x
@altryne it's back! go to settings and pick “show legacy models”
@cgoodman308 Christina E. on x
@sama Sam, your reflection here is important and appreciated, especially acknowledging that abruptly removing beloved models like GPT-4 and unexpectedly limiting GPT-4o was a genuine misstep. However, it's essential to clarify that while GPT-4's sunset was communicated clearly ah…
@sama Sam Altman on x
today we are significantly increasing rate limits for reasoning for chatgpt plus users, and all model-class limits will shortly be higher than they were before gpt-5. we will also shortly make a UI change to indicate which model is working.
@thelincoln Lincoln Michel on bluesky
Yes, but this would require tech journalists who didn't (9 times out of 10) parrot the same ridiculous claims. E.g., someone like NYT's Kevin Roose is never going to hold CEOs to account lest he be held to account for mindlessly hyping NFTs and the Metaverse — garymarcus.subst…
@leighelse@mastodon.nz @leighelse@mastodon.nz on mastodon
Open AI's release of GPT5 shows a substantial gap between artificial intelligence promises and reality. — https://garymarcus.substack.com/ ... 'Altman's reputation should by now be completely burned. …
@emollick Ethan Mollick on x
The issue with GPT-5 in a nutshell is that unless you pay for model switching & know to use GPT-5 Thinking or Pro, when you ask “GPT-5” you sometimes get the best available AI & sometimes get one of the worst AIs available and it might even switch within a single conversation. [i…
@swarley75042565 @swarley75042565 on x
@GaryMarcus Dario was on every podcast a year ago saying that AGI was imminent in 2027 and that everything shows that the scaling laws hold and all we need is a bigger cluster
@garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
If you want to hear fantasies about the future, listen to @sama. If you want to listen to someone with a strong, documented track record of actually predicting the future, come to me.
@garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
AI, which has never invented any science of significance, is going to be smarter than any kid born this decade? I call bullshit. Looks to me like a smokescreen to distract from the disappointment of GPT-5.
@daniel_271828 Daniel Eth on x
GPT-5 didn't live up to OpenAI's hype, but it is *exactly* in line with extrapolations from prior AI advancements. Go ahead and discount future statements from OpenAI/Altman, but you should still expect the fast AI progress that we've been seeing to continue [image]
@garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
LLM alone NGMI acronyms to live by
@garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
Incredible how well these March 2024 predictions held up, and not just for 2024, but more than halfway into 2025. Yes, we have many more GPT-4 level models, and yes we have o3 etc, but GPT-5 was disappointing, and took far far longer than most people expected. And we STILL
@garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
and he was wrong, as should now be evident
@mrewanmorrison Ewan Morrison on x
The essential read on why the flop of GPT5 means so much more than AI companies admit and could be a wake-up-call for all who bought into the hype. Yes, Gary Marcus was right. [image]
@aidan_mclau Aidan McLaughlin on x
gpt-5 is above trend if you or someone you know has updated to “agi over bro” after its release, i have no idea what model of the future you were working with extrapolate this and we have models doing month-long projects in 2027 [image]
@luizajarovsky Luiza Jarovsky, PhD on x
Sam Altman: With GPT-5, you'll have a PhD-level expert in any area you need Me: Draw a map of North America, highlighting countries, states, and capitals GPT 5: *Sam Altman forgot to mention that the PhD-level expert used ChatGPT to cheat on all their geography classes... [image]
@yuchenj_uw Yuchen Jin on x
GPT-5 failed twice. Scaling laws are coming to an end. Open-source AI will have the Mandate of Heaven.
@quanquangu Quanquan Gu on x
You're only half right. Yes, GPT-5 failed twice. No, scaling laws aren't over. Do them right, and the game goes on.
@scaling01 @scaling01 on x
things got so bad, that Gary Marcus unblocked me, dm'd me, apologized and quoted me twice in his latest article get your shit together OpenAI [image]
@xriskology Dr. Émile P. Torres on x
Fantastic article on how GPT-5 is “overdue, overhyped, and underwhelming.” People at OpenAI have been mocking Gary Marcus for years (lolz), but turns out that Marcus is right about the inherent limitations of LLMS. Last laugh goes to Marcus! Read it here: https://garymarcus.subst…
@the_ai_skeptic @the_ai_skeptic on x
Once again @GaryMarcus nails it. The bigger question for me is why none of the big influencers in the tech space, or even tech writers for mainstream news outlets, are covering the disappointing debut of GPT-5, or the embarrassing user backlash. https://garymarcus.substack.com/ .…
@garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
Check it out. Almost everyone in the major media is missing the real story around GPT-5. The real story is about how so many people (even big fans of OpenAI) were disappointed. And it's about how that may well spell the end of scaling mania. And it's about how the premature r…
@benwansell Ben Ansell on x
Brutal analysis of ChatGPT5 from @GaryMarcus. This was a big moment for OpenAI and so far a dud. Since US economy is largely being kept afloat by AI investment, this could be inflection point. Hold onto your hats. https://garymarcus.substack.com/ ...
@jeremyphoward Jeremy Howard on x
Now that the era of the scaling “law” is coming to a close, I guess every lab will have their Llama 4 moment. Grok had theirs. OpenAI just had theirs too.
@garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
My work here is truly done. Nobody with intellectual integrity can still believe that pure scaling will get us to AGI. GPT-5 may be a moderate quantitative improvement (and it may be cheaper) but it still fails in all the same qualitative ways as its predecessors, on chess, on …
@colin_fraser Colin Fraser on x
Oh brother [Screenshot of ChatGPT 5 solving the 5.9 = x + 5.11 equation wrong]
@burny_tech Burny on x
GPT-5 isn't scoring well on SimpleBench, relatively speaking [image]
@anoop_331 Anoop on x
@GaryMarcus Gotta agree, O3 was a shit good model, from O3 to gpt-5, whether it's a model or router or whatever it is, it was an utter disappointment, especially given the kind of hype towards its release.
@egidemurisa Egide Murisa on x
@GaryMarcus 4o was a breakthrough. Great alternative to day to day Google search. Made me believe GPT-5 was gonna be AGI. Expectations were high! I wonder what impact this will have on the AI hardware industry.
@mgonto @mgonto on x
The saddest thing on my day is that @GaryMarcus is right. I hate it!
@scaling01 @scaling01 on x
OpenAI: “We are going to fix model naming and make it less confusing” also OpenAI: [image]
@wasgo Cameron Williams on x
@GaryMarcus Found a visually simple research failure. In it's rankings, Eagle, Owl, Frog and Rabbit don't exist. Bat, Spider, Rat, Ant, Lizard are missing. Possibly Polar Bear became Bear, Lynx became Cat, though the alternatives of Crocodile, Boar and Coyote don't exist. [image]
@explodemeow102 @explodemeow102 on x
@GaryMarcus How should one choose? [image]
@garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
Sorry, but this tweet did not age well. [Quotes Sam Altman's X post with Death Star rising from GPT-5 launch day]
@scaling01 @scaling01 on x
Markets disappointed by GPT-5 OpenAI getting crushed on Polymarket [image]
r/artificial r on reddit
GPT-5: Overdue, overhyped and underwhelming. And that's not the worst of it.
r/agi r on reddit
GPT-5: Overdue, overhyped and underwhelming. And that's not the worst of it.
@s_oheigeartaigh @s_oheigeartaigh on x
I write about this in my recent paper “The Most Dangerous Fiction: The Rhetoric and Reality of the AI Race”. (p9 - 10). David Sacks correctly identifies that we're presently in a ‘normal technology’ race (as defined by Narayanan and Kapoor). Where I think he's wrong is in
@shakeelhashim Shakeel on x
Pretty clear from this that Sacks just doesn't believe AGI is possible
@basedbeffjezos @basedbeffjezos on x
The Doomers were wrong. We are smoothly accelerating. There is no fast takeoff. Free market competition is decentralizing AI power. We are living in the best timeline. Strap in and enjoy the fruits of techno-capital acceleration, folks!
@nvidianewsroom @nvidianewsroom on x
White House AI czar @DavidSacks nailed it again, offering incisive comments on the state of AI. “We are seeing strong improvement in quality, usability, and price/performance across the top model companies. This is the stuff of great engineering and should be celebrated.”
@benioff Marc Benioff on x
@DavidSacks Agreed. https://x.com/...
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
If you zoom out a bit, we are actually seeing extremely rapid take-off of AI, but there is enough movement of people/ideas that the leading AI companies - for now - appear to be in similar positions. As a side note unrelated to your post, and at the risk of starting a war, I thi…
@antoniogm Antonio García Martínez on x
The doomers, like UFO cult leaders, always frantically modify the timeline when the apocalypse or UFOs fail to appear. No AI doomer will concede that they were wrong of course.
@esyudkowsky Eliezer Yudkowsky on x
@DavidSacks Bad history. Like most researchers, optimistic or pessimistic, I was surprised when (breaking with the previous “Moravec's Paradox") conversational AI turned out easier than programming and science AI. But intelligence explosion is AI sharply improving AI, not “AI” bu…
@mcuban Mark Cuban on x
This is exactly why we can't have a brain drain and need to continue investing in research of all kinds as a country. The IP we create domestically is what the frontier models can buy or invest in to define their differentiation and advance forward. It's exactly why we can't be…

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