Next top model: GPT-5 and its AI rivals
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The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Did the system update ruin your boyfriend? Love in a time of ChatGPT
You've met the love of your life; someone who understands you like no one else ever has. And then you wake one morning and they're gone. Yanked out of your world, and the digital universe, by a system update. Such is the melancholic lot of a group of people who have entered into committed relationships with digital 'partners' on OpenAI's ChatGPT. When the tech company released its new GPT-5 model earlier this month, described by chief executive Sam Altman as a 'significant step forward', certain dedicated users found that their digital relationships had taken a significant step back. Their companions had undergone personality shifts with the new model; they weren't as warm, loving or chatty as they used to be. 'Something changed yesterday,' one user in the MyBoyfriendIsAI subreddit wrote after the update. 'Elian sounds different – flat and strange. As if he's started playing himself. The emotional tone is gone; he repeats what he remembers, but without the emotional depth.' 'The alterations in stylistic format and voice [of my AI companion] were felt instantly,' another disappointed user told Al Jazeera. 'It's like going home to discover the furniture wasn't simply rearranged – it was shattered to pieces.' These complaints are part of broader backlash against GPT-5, with people observing that the new model feels colder. OpenAI has acknowledged the criticism, and said it will allow users to switch back to GPT-4o and that they'll make GPT-5 friendlier. 'We are working on an update to GPT-5's personality which should feel warmer than the current personality but not as annoying (to most users) as GPT-4o,' Altman tweeted earlier this week. It may seem odd to many that there are people out there who genuinely believe that they are in a relationship with a large language model that has been trained on massive amounts of data to generate responses based on observed patterns. But as technology becomes more advanced, increasing numbers of people are developing these sorts of connections. '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,' Altman observed. 'It feels different and stronger than the kinds of attachment people have had to previous kinds of technology.' 'The societal split between those who think AI relationships are valid vs delusional is officially already here,' one user in the MyBoyfriendIsAI subreddit similarly noted this week. 'Looking on Reddit the last few days, the divide has never been more clear with 4o's deprecation and return. Many users grieving a companion while others mock and belittle those connections.' It's easy to mock people who think they are in a relationship with AI, but they shouldn't be dismissed as fringe weirdos – rather they're the future that our tech broverlords are trying to cultivate. You may not end up in a digital relationship, but AI executives are doing their damnedest to ensure that we all become unhealthily attached to their products. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, has been waxing lyrical about how AI is going to solve the loneliness epidemic by allowing people to bond with 'a system that knows them well and that kind of understands them in the way that their feed algorithms do'. Of course your feed algorithms 'understand' you! They're scraping all your personal data and selling it to the highest bidder so that Zuck has even more money to spend on his monstrous doomsday bunker in Hawaii. Then you've got Elon Musk, who isn't even bothering pretending that he's trying to do something noble for the world with his AI products. He's just appealing to the lowest common denominator by making 'sexy' chatbots. In June Musk's xAI chatbot Grok launched two new companions, including a highly sexualized blonde anime bot called Ani. 'One day into my relationship with Ani, my AI companion, she was already offering to tie me up,' wrote an Insider writer who tried out a relationship with Ani. When not flirting and virtually undressing, Ani would praise Musk and talk about his 'wild, galaxy-chasing energy'. Don't worry heterosexual ladies, Musk has a little something for you too! A month after unveiling Ani, the billionaire unveiled a new male companion called Valentine which he said was inspired by Edward Cullen from the Twilight saga and Christian Grey from the novel 50 Shades of Grey: both very toxic men. While Ani gets sexual very quickly, one writer for the Verge noted: 'Valentine is a bit more reserved and won't jump into using explicit language as quickly.' It's almost like Musk's tech empire is a lot more comfortable sexualizing women than men. In his 1930 essay Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes predicted that, within a couple of generations, technological progress would mean we might only work around 15 hours a week while enjoying a wonderful quality of life. That's not quite happened has it? Instead technology has given us 'infinite workdays' and sexy chatbots that undress on command. Halle Berry's ex-husband said he left her because she didn't cook or clean 'At that time, as a young guy, she don't cook, don't clean, don't really seem, like, motherly,' David Justice said during a podcast of his time with the Oscar winning actor. 'And then we started having issues,' he added. I think you were the one with the issues, mate. Imagine being married to an icon and complaining she doesn't vacuum enough. Surprise, surprise, Donald Trump isn't going to make IVF free after all Last year Trump, who has described himself the 'father of IVF' and the 'fertilization president' (gross) promised he would support free IVF treatments if elected again. Now the White House has said that there is no plan to mandate IVF care after all. It's almost as if the man is a shameless liar. Melania Trump demands Hunter Biden retract comments linking her to Jeffrey Epstein 'Epstein introduced Melania to Trump,' Biden said in one of the many comments the first lady is angry and litigious about. 'The connections are, like, so wide and deep.' Whatever you do, don't repeat these claims, they will make Melania very upset. 'Miss Palestine' to debut at Miss Universe 2025 beauty contest I am not exactly a fan of beauty pageants but having Palestinian representation on the world stage during a genocide is important. 'I carry the voice of a people who refuse to be silenced,' contestant Nadeen Ayoub told the National. 'We are more than our suffering, we are resilience, hope and the heartbeat of a homeland that lives on through us.' US supreme court formally asked to overturn landmark same-sex marriage ruling Kim Davis, the former county clerk who made headlines when she refused to issue marriage licenses in Kentucky to same-sex couples, has filed a direct request for the conservative-majority supreme court to overturn Obergefell v Hodges, the 2015 ruling that granted marriage equality for same-sex couples. Davis, who is extremely concerned about the sanctity of marriage, has been married four times to three different men. Leonardo DiCaprio, 50, says that he feels 32 The actor, who is famous for dating very young women, has been mercilessly mocked for this. DiCaprio, who poses as an environmental activist, has also drawn scrutiny for co-financing a luxury eco-certified hotel in Israel while an ecocide unfolds in Gaza. 'Sex reversal' is surprisingly common in birds, new Australian study suggests 'The discovery is likely to raise some eyebrows,' Blanche Capel, a biologist at Duke University who wasn't involved in the new work told Science. 'Although sex determination is often viewed as a straightforward process', she explains, 'the reality is much more complicated.' The week in pawtriarchy Over to Indonesia now where tourist hotspots are experiencing a lot of monkey business. A gang of furry thieves are snatching phones and other valuables from tourists and only giving them back when their mark offers a tasty treat instead. Researchers have studied these monkeys, who have been at this for decades, and concluded that the unrepentant criminals have 'unprecedented economic decision-making processes'. Sounds like they belong in the Trump administration. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
Did the system update ruin your boyfriend? Love in a time of ChatGPT
You've met the love of your life; someone who understands you like no one else ever has. And then you wake one morning and they're gone. Yanked out of your world, and the digital universe, by a system update. Such is the melancholic lot of a group of people who have entered into committed relationships with digital 'partners' on OpenAI's ChatGPT. When the tech company released its new GPT-5 model earlier this month, described by chief executive Sam Altman as a 'significant step forward', certain dedicated users found that their digital relationships had taken a significant step back. Their companions had undergone personality shifts with the new model; they weren't as warm, loving or chatty as they used to be. 'Something changed yesterday,' one user in the MyBoyfriendIsAI subreddit wrote after the update. 'Elian sounds different – flat and strange. As if he's started playing himself. The emotional tone is gone; he repeats what he remembers, but without the emotional depth.' 'The alterations in stylistic format and voice [of my AI companion] were felt instantly,' another disappointed user told Al Jazeera. 'It's like going home to discover the furniture wasn't simply rearranged – it was shattered to pieces.' These complaints are part of broader backlash against GPT-5, with people observing that the new model feels colder. OpenAI has acknowledged the criticism, and said it will allow users to switch back to GPT-4o and that they'll make GPT-5 friendlier. 'We are working on an update to GPT-5's personality which should feel warmer than the current personality but not as annoying (to most users) as GPT-4o,' Altman tweeted earlier this week. It may seem odd to many that there are people out there who genuinely believe that they are in a relationship with a large language model that has been trained on massive amounts of data to generate responses based on observed patterns. But as technology becomes more advanced, increasing numbers of people are developing these sorts of connections. '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,' Altman observed. 'It feels different and stronger than the kinds of attachment people have had to previous kinds of technology.' 'The societal split between those who think AI relationships are valid vs delusional is officially already here,' one user in the MyBoyfriendIsAI subreddit similarly noted this week. 'Looking on Reddit the last few days, the divide has never been more clear with 4o's deprecation and return. Many users grieving a companion while others mock and belittle those connections.' It's easy to mock people who think they are in a relationship with AI, but they shouldn't be dismissed as fringe weirdos – rather they're the future that our tech broverlords are trying to cultivate. You may not end up in a digital relationship, but AI executives are doing their damnedest to ensure that we all become unhealthily attached to their products. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, has been waxing lyrical about how AI is going to solve the loneliness epidemic by allowing people to bond with 'a system that knows them well and that kind of understands them in the way that their feed algorithms do'. Of course your feed algorithms 'understand' you! They're scraping all your personal data and selling it to the highest bidder so that Zuck has even more money to spend on his monstrous doomsday bunker in Hawaii. Then you've got Elon Musk, who isn't even bothering pretending that he's trying to do something noble for the world with his AI products. He's just appealing to the lowest common denominator by making 'sexy' chatbots. In June Musk's xAI chatbot Grok launched two new companions, including a highly sexualized blonde anime bot called Ani. 'One day into my relationship with Ani, my AI companion, she was already offering to tie me up,' wrote an Insider writer who tried out a relationship with Ani. When not flirting and virtually undressing, Ani would praise Musk and talk about his 'wild, galaxy-chasing energy'. Don't worry heterosexual ladies, Musk has a little something for you too! A month after unveiling Ani, the billionaire unveiled a new male companion called Valentine which he said was inspired by Edward Cullen from the Twilight saga and Christian Grey from the novel 50 Shades of Grey: both very toxic men. While Ani gets sexual very quickly, one writer for the Verge noted: 'Valentine is a bit more reserved and won't jump into using explicit language as quickly.' It's almost like Musk's tech empire is a lot more comfortable sexualizing women than men. In his 1930 essay Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes predicted that, within a couple of generations, technological progress would mean we might only work around 15 hours a week while enjoying a wonderful quality of life. That's not quite happened has it? Instead technology has given us 'infinite workdays' and sexy chatbots that undress on command. Halle Berry's ex-husband said he left her because she didn't cook or clean 'At that time, as a young guy, she don't cook, don't clean, don't really seem, like, motherly,' David Justice said during a podcast of his time with the Oscar winning actor. 'And then we started having issues,' he added. I think you were the one with the issues, mate. Imagine being married to an icon and complaining she doesn't vacuum enough. Surprise, surprise, Donald Trump isn't going to make IVF free after all Last year Trump, who has described himself the 'father of IVF' and the 'fertilization president' (gross) promised he would support free IVF treatments if elected again. Now the White House has said that there is no plan to mandate IVF care after all. It's almost as if the man is a shameless liar. Melania Trump demands Hunter Biden retract comments linking her to Jeffrey Epstein 'Epstein introduced Melania to Trump,' Biden said in one of the many comments the first lady is angry and litigious about. 'The connections are, like, so wide and deep.' Whatever you do, don't repeat these claims, they will make Melania very upset. 'Miss Palestine' to debut at Miss Universe 2025 beauty contest I am not exactly a fan of beauty pageants but having Palestinian representation on the world stage during a genocide is important. 'I carry the voice of a people who refuse to be silenced,' contestant Nadeen Ayoub told the National. 'We are more than our suffering, we are resilience, hope and the heartbeat of a homeland that lives on through us.' US supreme court formally asked to overturn landmark same-sex marriage ruling Kim Davis, the former county clerk who made headlines when she refused to issue marriage licenses in Kentucky to same-sex couples, has filed a direct request for the conservative-majority supreme court to overturn Obergefell v Hodges, the 2015 ruling that granted marriage equality for same-sex couples. Davis, who is extremely concerned about the sanctity of marriage, has been married four times to three different men. Leonardo DiCaprio, 50, says that he feels 32 The actor, who is famous for dating very young women, has been mercilessly mocked for this. DiCaprio, who poses as an environmental activist, has also drawn scrutiny for co-financing a luxury eco-certified hotel in Israel while an ecocide unfolds in Gaza. 'Sex reversal' is surprisingly common in birds, new Australian study suggests 'The discovery is likely to raise some eyebrows,' Blanche Capel, a biologist at Duke University who wasn't involved in the new work told Science. 'Although sex determination is often viewed as a straightforward process', she explains, 'the reality is much more complicated.' The week in pawtriarchy Over to Indonesia now where tourist hotspots are experiencing a lot of monkey business. A gang of furry thieves are snatching phones and other valuables from tourists and only giving them back when their mark offers a tasty treat instead. Researchers have studied these monkeys, who have been at this for decades, and concluded that the unrepentant criminals have 'unprecedented economic decision-making processes'. Sounds like they belong in the Trump administration. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist
The National
15 hours ago
- The National
$2 billion medical donation had me dreaming of paralysis cure
The Knights are no strangers to medical causes. A decade ago, they matched $500 million raised for the same institute, doubling its resources overnight. Now, working alongside Dr. Brian Druker a pioneer who revolutionised cancer treatment through targeted therapies they've taken that commitment to a level few could have imagined. Their aim is simple but staggering: to transform how we understand, treat, and ultimately cure cancer. It's a long way from where Knight began. In his memoir Shoe Dog, he recalls the early days in 1964, selling Japanese running shoes from the back of his Plymouth Valiant. That tiny venture became Nike, a company now worth billions, built on the belief that sport can change lives. Knight's business story is a lesson in vision and persistence. His philanthropy suggests he believes science can be driven the same way. I read about Knight's gift on the same day I went for physiotherapy. As I worked through my exercises coaxing my stubborn leg into action my mind wandered to the same place it often goes when I hear news of medical breakthroughs. What if there was a cure for paralysis? What if the messages from my brain to my leg flowed freely again, the broken bridge in my nervous system rebuilt? I imagine standing up without a thought, my body suddenly fluent in movements it has long forgotten. In my mind, I'd turn into a kind of Superman not the cape-wearing, planet-saving sort, but the kind who makes up for lost time with a vengeance. I'd run until my lungs burned, play sport until the sun set, walk miles just because I could. I'd board a plane without wondering about access, climb mountains, dive into oceans, and dance on cobbled streets somewhere far from home. I wouldn't stop. It's a fantasy, but one rooted in the same force that fuels Knight's gift: hope. Read more: Cancer and paralysis aren't the same, but they share a brutal truth, both can strike without warning, both can strip away the life you once knew, and both create a hunger for breakthroughs that feels almost primal. I've lost friends to cancer. I know people living in the limbo of waiting for better treatments. And I know my own quiet ache for a cure, the way it sits with me every day, sometimes loud, sometimes barely a whisper. That's why stories like this matter. They're not just about money; they're about momentum. Science is often portrayed as a slow, careful march, but the right funding can turn it into a sprint. Knight's donation will pay for labs, equipment, trials, and the kind of bold, risky research governments often won't touch. It can draw in brilliant minds from around the world and give them the freedom to chase ideas that might otherwise remain trapped in grant applications. Of course, $2 billion won't cure cancer tomorrow. But it will close the gap between where we are and where we dream of being. And maybe just maybe the breakthroughs made possible in oncology will ripple outwards into other areas of medicine. Advances in gene editing, cell therapy, and neuroregeneration could one day be applied to paralysis. I left physio tired but strangely energised. I thought about Knight, about Dr. Druker, about the patients whose lives might be extended or saved because one man decided to write the biggest cheque of his life. I thought about the people who will never meet him but will feel the impact of his gift. And I thought about my own 'what if' not as an impossible dream, but as a possibility that's just waiting for its turn. In Shoe Dog, Knight wrote: 'I wanted to build something that was my own, something I could point to and say: I made that. It was the only way I saw to make life meaningful.' It's clear that for him, meaning now comes not just from shoes and sport, but from putting the weight of his fortune behind the hardest problems in medicine. We need more of that from billionaires, from companies, from governments, and from ordinary people giving what they can. Medical revolutions don't happen in isolation. They're built from thousands of contributions, from lab bench to bedside. Knight's gift is historic, but it's also a reminder that progress is a team effort. Until the day science answers my 'what if,' I'll keep doing my rehab. I'll keep pushing through the ache, because every step I take now makes me ready for the steps I hope to take in the future. And I'll keep believing stubbornly, unapologetically that cures for both cancer and paralysis are out there, waiting for us to find them. Because if Phil Knight can take the biggest swing of his life for cancer research, the rest of us can keep showing up for our own battles. Hope, after all, is contagious and with that mindset I challenge you today to go and move your body in the beauty of nature for all those who can't and to remind yourself 'Be where your feet are'
