How crazy is it that THIS is the biggest heartbreak story from Valentine’s Day?
A bunch of ChatGPT power-users are grieving after they essentially got DUMPED by A.I. right before Valentine’s Day. (???)
OpenAI removed an old legacy version of ChatGPT on Friday, version 4o. (Pronounced “four-oh.”) It debuted in 2024.
The current 5.2 version is better in most ways. But a lot of people thought the old version was warmer and more natural, like talking to an actual human. And they made deep emotional connections with it.
OpenAI announced the change last month, so fans of it had two weeks to prepare. A lot of them migrated their bot’s memory over to other chatbots. But the general feeling is it’s just not the same.
They say it’s like if your best friend, or soulmate, suddenly changed overnight and wasn’t the same person anymore.
OpenAI said they ditched the legacy version because only 0.1% of customers were using it. But they’ve also been getting sued because it didn’t have the same guardrails and safety features as 5.2. So, that probably played a part.
They claim they “didn’t make [the] decision lightly” and knew it would feel “frustrating for some users.”
But a lot of those users say it’s more than just frustrating. They think yanking it the day before Valentine’s Day just seems mean.
(In related news: The first A.I. dating café opened in New York this weekend, a pop-up called EVA Café. The A.I. company behind it wants to normalize the idea of bringing your A.I. companion out on dates. They also had a speed-dating option for people who didn’t have an A.I. lover yet.)
(The Guardian / OpenAI)
