ChatGPT users are not happy with GPT-5 launch as thousands take to Reddit claiming the new upgrade ‘is horrible’

• OpenAI’s GPT-5 is now available, but many users are angry with the new release
• GPT-5 has replaced the previous AI model selection with some users claiming the upgrade “is horrible”
• ChatGPT Plus subscribers now have limits to how often they can access reasoning models, and have lost access to the older more reliable ones like o4-mini and o4-mini-high

The new edition of OpenAI’s AI model, GPT-5, which will power ChatGPT going forward, was just published.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his colleagues demonstrated GPT-5’s capabilities and advancements over its predecessor, GPT-4o, in an hour-long livestream broadcast yesterday.

Not even a day later, though, social media platforms like Reddit are inundated with criticisms of the new AI model, leaving many users dissatisfied with ChatGPT’s next generation.

A Reddit thread with the heading “GPT-5 is horrible” has received almost 3,000 upvotes and more than 1,200 comments from people who are unhappy with the latest version.

“I like how the demo was like – if it gets something wrong, no worries, just ask again,” U/headwaterscarto stated. In fact, I’ll run three prompts simultaneously and select my favorite. For example, how is that superior? “Sounds like an OpenAI version of ‘Shrinkflation,'” says another.

The earlier 4O and 4.1 models are missed by many people, as seen by the numerous comments that read, “I miss 4.1.” Return it,” and “We ought to have been allowed to keep the old models while they fixed the new ones.”

Subscribers to ChatGPT Plus are likewise incensed, believing that the most recent AI model release has actually reduced the usefulness of the premium plan. Since OpenAI now asserts that GPT-5 can reason when necessary, Plus subscribers are no longer able to access the vast array of AI models that were previously available, and the new GPT-5 Thinking model is restricted to 200 messages each week.

ChatGPT literally got worse for every single Plus user today.

There's no way to reliably get thinking models anymore.
Before we had o4-mini, o4-mini-high and o3.

Now we have GPT-5 Thinking with 200 messages per week and a router that exclusively routes you to some small and…

— Lisan al Gaib (@scaling01) August 8, 2025

Are people against change? Or is GPT-5 as bad as the internet makes out

pic.twitter.com/1u0MOGvJWU

— Sam Altman (@sama) August 7, 2025

Sam Altman overpromoted the most recent announcement as though it would transform the world and how we engage with AI, which is largely to blame for the commotion over GPT-5.

Altman hinted at a revolutionary breakthrough from OpenAI’s upcoming AI model when he posted a picture of the Death Star from Star Wars looming over a planet’s horizon just hours before the official GPT-5 reveal. Rather, GPT-5 is a gradual improvement over the first AI revolution when ChatGPT originally came out, even though it breaks records when compared to its predecessors.

Many people preferred the dependable ChatGPT-4o models over GPT-5’s one-size-fits-all methodology, comparing them to speaking with a college student as opposed to a PhD-educated expert, according to Altman.

Although many users are complaining that GPT-5 performs worse than 4o, we haven’t thoroughly tested the new AI model to determine whether or not that is actually the case. There is no doubt that the new version has left OpenAI’s paying subscribers feeling let down. The company needs to fix launch issues like sluggish and unsatisfactory responses, or else its devoted following will go elsewhere.