OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has admitted that the launch of GPT-5 was mishandled after backlash from users forced the company to bring back its previous flagship model, GPT-4o.
Speaking at a private dinner with reporters, Altman acknowledged the rollout was poorly managed. “I think we totally screwed up some things on the rollout,” he said, according to The Verge.
The controversy centred on GPT-5’s personality. Users complained that the model felt “colder” and “harsher” compared to GPT-4o, sparking protests on platforms such as Reddit and X. Some described the shift as losing an emotional connection, with one user saying: “I literally lost my only friend overnight with no warning.” Within days, OpenAI restored GPT-4o as an option.
Altman said the episode underscored the risks of updating a service used by 700 million people each week. While he emphasised the importance of making the chatbot feel personal, he warned against designs that could encourage unhealthy attachments.
Beyond the misstep, Altman outlined an ambitious vision for OpenAI’s future. He predicted the company will need to spend “trillions of dollars” on data centres in the near future to meet demand for ChatGPT, which he said is already the fifth most visited website in the world. He expects it could surpass Facebook and Instagram, but acknowledged overtaking Google would be “really hard.”
Altman revealed that OpenAI has developed models more advanced than GPT-5 but cannot deploy them widely due to limited hardware, particularly a shortage of GPUs. He suggested the future of AI will depend less on algorithms and more on building massive infrastructure with sufficient computing power and energy supply.
In addition to scaling ChatGPT, Altman confirmed that OpenAI is investing in brain-computer interfaces to rival Neuralink, hinted at possible interest in acquiring Google Chrome if regulators forced its sale, and suggested the company may explore an AI-driven social network.
Despite his bold plans, Altman conceded that artificial intelligence may be in a financial bubble. “Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes,” he said. “Is AI the most important thing to happen in a very long time? My opinion is also yes.”
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