'GPT-5 Is Horrible': Insufficient, Obnoxious, Less Prompts Allowed. Redditors Up In Arms Against OpenAI's Newest LLM
Rumours around GPT-5 had been circulating for over 18 months, but the final product left many questioning whether the company prioritised efficiency over performance.
OpenAI’s latest AI model, GPT-5, arrived with fanfare on Thursday, but the reception has been anything but celebratory. Marketed as a “reasoning” model that CEO Sam Altman hailed as the world’s best in coding and writing, the update is free to use. Yet, early adopters say the upgrade feels more like a downgrade.
Power Users Push Back Against New Release
While GPT-5 was positioned as a major leap in AI capabilities, some of the platform’s most dedicated users were quick to voice disappointment. “GPT-5 is horrible,” reads one of the most upvoted posts on the ChatGPT subreddit, as reported by Futurism.
GPT5 is horrible
byu/danganffan11037 inChatGPT
Complaints include “short replies that are insufficient, more obnoxious AI-stylised talking, less ‘personality’ and way less prompts allowed,” with Plus subscribers reportedly hitting usage limits within an hour. The post warned, “They’ll get huge backlash after the release is complete.”
Adding fuel to the frustration, OpenAI announced the deprecation of all previous models, a move that effectively forces everyone onto GPT-5. For many long-time users who relied on earlier versions, this decision has been met with anger and scepticism.
Speculation Over Cost-Cutting Motives
Rumours around GPT-5 had been circulating for over 18 months, but the final product left many questioning whether the company prioritised efficiency over performance. Running large language models is notoriously resource-intensive, and several Reddit users suggested the update might be an exercise in “cost-saving, not like improvement.” One even likened it to “an OpenAI version of ‘Shrinkflation’,” noting the company’s reported $500 billion valuation ambitions.
Others pointed to more restrictive usage policies and shorter answers as signs that the model’s capabilities have been dialled back. “Answers are shorter and, so far, not any better than previous models,” one user wrote. Another added that the tone feels “abrupt and sharp… like it’s an overworked secretary.”
Mixed Performance & Safety Notes
OpenAI’s own system card for GPT-5 did little to counter the criticism, with AI researcher Eli Lifland observing “no improvement on all the coding evals that aren’t SWEBench.” Still, the document included an assessment from nonprofit METR suggesting that the model is “unlikely” to enable AI research breakthroughs at dangerous speeds or be “capable of rogue application.”
Altman has so far avoided directly addressing the wave of negative feedback. On social media, he doubled down on his pitch, stating, “GPT-5 is the smartest model we’ve ever done, but the main thing we pushed for is real-world utility and mass accessibility/affordability.”
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. It feels different and stronger than the kinds of attachment people have had to previous kinds of technology (and so suddenly…
— Sam Altman (@sama) August 11, 2025
He also promised future upgrades: “We can release much, much smarter models, and we will, but this is something a billion+ people will benefit from.”
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