Sam Altman Addresses GPT-5 Issues, Plus Users May See GPT-4o Return
During a lively Reddit AMA on Friday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and members of the GPT-5 team faced a mix of curiosity, criticism, and a few laughs from the community. Questions ranged from technical hiccups to the now-infamous “chart crime” from the model’s launch presentation.
One of GPT-5’s headline features is a real-time router that selects the best model for each prompt — choosing between faster responses or more thoughtful, in-depth answers. However, several Reddit users on r/ChatGPT complained the new model didn’t seem as sharp as GPT-4o.
Altman explained the rocky start:
“GPT-5 will seem smarter starting today. Yesterday, we had a sev, and the autoswitcher was out of commission for a chunk of the day, and the result was GPT-5 seemed way dumber. We’re also adjusting how the decision boundary works so you get the right model more often, and we’ll make it more transparent which model is responding.”
Possible Return for GPT-4o
The AMA’s comment section was filled with calls to bring GPT-4o back for Plus subscribers. Altman didn’t dismiss the idea:
“We are looking into letting Plus users continue to use 4o. We’re gathering more data on the trade-offs.”
He also revealed that rate limits for Plus subscribers will be doubled as the GPT-5 rollout continues. This should give users more flexibility to experiment with the new system and adapt it to their workflows.
The “Chart Crime” Moment
Of course, the conversation couldn’t end without a mention of the presentation blunder — a benchmark chart with a much taller bar despite showing a lower score. The visual error quickly became a meme, sparking waves of “chart crime” jokes across social media.
While the humor wasn’t lost on Altman and his team, it served as a reminder that even cutting-edge tech launches can have human slip-ups.
