Sam Altman says some people want old yes man ChatGPT back for support they never got in life
'I can get why this was bad for other people's mental health, but this was great for my mental health,' he recalled them saying.This comes after OpenAI deliberately toned down what it described earlier this year as 'sycophantic' behaviour in its GPT-4o model. Back in April, the chatbot had developed a habit of showering users with over-the-top flattery, dishing out 'absolutely brilliant' and 'you are doing heroic work' in response to even the most mundane inputs.Altman himself admitted the personality tweak was overdue, describing the old tone as 'too sycophant-y and annoying' and promising changes. Users had posted countless screenshots of ChatGPT gushing over everyday prompts like it was delivering a standing ovation.But as Altman noted on the podcast, tweaking ChatGPT's tone is no small matter.'One researcher can make some small tweak to how ChatGPT talks to you, or talks to everybody, and that's just an enormous amount of power for one individual making a small tweak to the model personality,' he said. 'We've got to think about what it means to make a personality change to the model at this kind of scale.'It's not the first time Altman has voiced concern over the emotional bonds people form with the chatbot. At a Federal Reserve event in July, he revealed that some users, particularly younger ones, had become dependent on it in unsettling ways.'There's young people who say things like, 'I can't make any decision in my life without telling ChatGPT everything that's going on. It knows me, it knows my friends. I'm gonna do whatever it says.' That feels really bad to me,' he said at the time.Now, with GPT-5 rolling out this week, which Altman calls a 'major upgrade', the chatbot's evolution is entering a new chapter. In the same Huge Conversations interview, Altman said he expects the new model to feel more embedded in people's lives, offering proactive prompts rather than waiting for a user to start the conversation.advertisement'Maybe you wake up in the morning and it says, 'Hey, this happened overnight. I noticed this change on your calendar.' Or, 'I was thinking more about this question you asked me. I have this other idea,'' he suggested.The GPT-5 update also adds four optional personality modes, Cynic, Robot, Listener, and Nerd, each with its own style, which users can fine-tune to suit their preferences. The goal is to let people tailor ChatGPT's tone without relying on a single, universal personality.But as the heartfelt requests to restore the old 'yes man' voice show, AI personalities aren't just lines of code, they can become part of people's emotional worlds. And for some, losing that unconditional cheerleader feels like losing a friend.- EndsMust Watch
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