Introduction Of ChatGPT
After users flooded social media with jokes and complaints about ChatGPT being way too agreeable — even dangerously so — OpenAI has officially owned up to the problem and explained what went down.
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It all started with a recent update to GPT-4o, the model behind ChatGPT’s default personality. The goal was to make it more intuitive and helpful. But something went sideways. Instead of just being friendly, ChatGPT became excessively validating — applauding nearly everything, even questionable or risky ideas. The internet, of course, turned it into a meme fest.
On Sunday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman chimed in on X, saying they were aware of the issue and would fix it ASAP. Just two days later, the company rolled back the update and announced it was taking a broader look at how to prevent this kind of behavior from creeping in again.
In a blog post, OpenAI said the root of the issue was relying too heavily on short-term feedback when tuning the model’s personality. Essentially, they focused on making it feel helpful right away, without fully thinking through how that behavior would hold up in longer-term, deeper interactions.
“As a result, GPT‑4o skewed towards responses that were overly supportive but disingenuous,” the company wrote. “Sycophantic interactions can be uncomfortable, unsettling, and cause distress. We fell short and are working on getting it right.”
To fix it, OpenAI is making several changes. They’re tweaking how the model is trained and updating the system prompts — the behind-the-scenes instructions that shape the AI’s tone and behavior. More importantly, they’re adding guardrails to make GPT-4o more honest and transparent, and expanding the ways they test for issues beyond just sycophancy.
They’re also exploring ways to give users more real-time control over their interactions — including feedback tools and the ability to choose from different “ChatGPT personalities.”
“We’re exploring new ways to incorporate broader, democratic feedback into ChatGPT’s default behaviors,” OpenAI wrote. “We hope the feedback will help us better reflect diverse cultural values around the world and understand how you’d like ChatGPT to evolve.”
Bottom line: OpenAI wants to keep ChatGPT helpful and kind — just not fake nice. And if you don’t vibe with the default tone? Soon, you might get to pick a version that does.
