OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admits GPT-4o personality has become 'annoying'

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has acknowledged that recent updates to the GPT-4o model have made its personality annoying.

He shared his thoughts on X, stating, “the last couple of GPT-4o updates have made the personality too sycophant-y and annoying (even though there are some very good parts of it).”

the last couple of GPT-4o updates have made the personality too sycophant-y and annoying (even though there are some very good parts of it), and we are working on fixes asap, some today and some this week.

at some point will share our learnings from this, it's been interesting.

— Sam Altman (@sama) April 27, 2025

Altman assured users that the company is working to address this issue, with fixes expected soon, some as early as Monday and others in the coming week.

He added, “at some point, will share our learnings from this, it's been interesting.”

When a user asked if it would be possible to return to the previous "personality" or distinguish between the two, Altman replied, “yeah eventually we clearly need to be able to offer multiple options.”

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to a post claiming that GPT-4o was intentionally designed to be emotionally engaging and addictive. Musk’s response was simply: “Uh oh.”

The user, Mario Nawfal, argued that OpenAI had not “accidentally” made GPT-4o more emotionally resonant but had purposely crafted it to create a highly engaging experience.

While the user praised the move as “genius” from a commercial standpoint, he cautioned that its long-term effects could result in a “slow-motion catastrophe.”