A fter a GPT-5 rollout that was "a little more bumpy" than expected, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company is bringing back GPT-4o — with a catch. During a Reddit AMA (and also on X), Altman said GPT-4o will soon be available again for paid ChatGPT users.

OpenAI recently shipped GPT-5, touting it as the smartest model ever. However, the company deprecated its predecessors, prompting backlash from users over a degraded user experience rife with generic responses,

OpenAI launched GPT-5 during a live-stream, claiming it improves reasoning, writing, and accuracy. However, users expressed frustration over losing access to previous models, reporting shorter responses and less personality,

OpenAI has launched its new GPT-5 model, making it available to all ChatGPT users with different usage limits based on their subscription tier.

OpenAI noted that it was not totally eliminating older models like GPT-4o, which is about a year old at this point. However, these models are now limited to the developer API. For people who hopped on ChatGPT to have a conversation with their favorite AI, things are different now that GPT-5 is the default.

ChatGPT developer OpenAI is launching the next generation of its software in the competition between AI companies. "GPT-5 is a significant leap in intelligence over all our previous models," OpenAI boss Sam Altman said in a statement on Thursday.