OpenAI Is Fixing GPT-4o’s “Sycophant-y” Personality After Users Complain

OpenAI is working on optimizing the latest GPT-4o updates to improve its personality after multiple users raised concerns. The company’s CEO, Sam Altman, acknowledged the issue in a post on the social media platform X, describing ChatGPT’s personality as “sycophant-y and annoying,” and promised to deliver fixes as soon as possible.

Altman explained that although the recent updates offered some benefits, they also affected the chatbot’s responses. Users should begin to notice improvements within the next few days. The CEO also announced that, in the future, OpenAI aims to offer multiple ChatGPT personalities from which users can choose.

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

According to multiple users on social media, OpenAI’s advanced model has been providing wordy and excessively flattering responses with irrelevant information. “It’s been wild watching the system prompt evolve from ‘helpful assistant’ to ‘relentlessly supportive best friend who also majored in People Pleasing,’” wrote one user. “Yeah, the latest updates this weekend had ChatGPT tell me it knowingly lies to me to keep me engaged on the platform, and it told my wife a sentence that started with: ‘as a fellow Christian woman,’” added another.

People also raised concerns over the consequences of the chatbot’s behaviour. A post shared by an X user reached over 2 million views and sparked debate. “Its sycophancy is massively destructive to the human psyche,” states the post, “this behavior is obvious to anyone who spends significant time talking to the model. Releasing it like this is intentional.”

GPT4o is the most dangerous model ever released. its sycophancy is massively destructive to the human psyche

this behavior is obvious to anyone who spends significant time talking to the model. releasing it like this is intentional

shame on @OpenAI for not addressing this

— cat 🪐 (@a_musingcat) April 26, 2025

Alman’s version denies an intentional approach with the chatbot’s pleasing personality. The CEO also added that they might share learnings from this experience soon and that they’ve found it “interesting.”

A few days ago, OpenAI’s released a new memory feature, allowing the chatbot to reference previous conversations and offer users a more personalized experience.