According to foreign media reports, after 72 hours of strong user protests, OpenAI was forced to make a major strategic adjustment. CEO Sam Altman announced via social media on Sunday that the company would restore older AI models, including GPT-4o, and significantly increase usage limits for paying users in an attempt to quell the "storm of resistance" unleashed by loyal users.
The controversy began after OpenAI launched GPT-5 on August 7th. The company removed the ability to select older models, forcing all users to use the new system. This decision immediately sparked outrage among ChatGPT Plus users, who paid $20 (approximately 143.8 RMB) per month. Their workflow, which relied on different models to complete specific tasks, was completely disrupted. More seriously, users lost the ability to cross-validate their answers, leading to a wave of cancellations and a widespread online petition.
Faced with the overwhelming public pressure, Altman responded swiftly. He not only admitted the mistake but also personally instructed users on social media how to restore the old model: "It's restored! Go to settings and select 'Show old models.'" When asked whether using the old model would be flagged as "weird," he clarified, "Not in any case."
To further reassure users, OpenAI also announced that it would increase the inference function call limit for GPT-5 to 3,000 per week, promising that the limits for all model categories would exceed pre-GPT-5 levels. The company also plans to increase transparency by displaying the specific model currently in use in the interface and publishing a blog post explaining its capacity allocation strategy. Data shows that the proportion of Plus users using the inference model has surged from 7% to 24%, which may explain the necessity of raising the call limit.
Ultimately, OpenAI reached a compromise: retaining GPT-5 as the default model while restoring the user's option to use the old model. This controversy not only demonstrates users' deep dependence on AI tools but also highlights the challenges tech companies face in balancing innovation and user experience during product iteration.
