OpenAI Wants to Make ChatGPT More “Human,” With Fewer Restrictions

OpenAI is planning to release a new version of ChatGPT in the coming weeks that will bring back some of the human-like attributes that were lost during the transition from GPT-4o to the latest GPT-5 model. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, said yesterday that this will allow users to make ChatGPT more “friendly,” and the chatbot will also add support for erotica for verified adult users.

“In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o,” Altman wrote on X. “If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it.”

At launch, OpenAI’s GPT-5 model received a lot of criticism from users who preferred the responses provided by GPT-4o. A day later, the company brought back GPT-4o in the model picker for ChatGPT Plus users, but Altman acknowledged that many users are still not satisfied with the latest models.

As more and more young people are turning to ChatGPT to seek emotional advice, OpenAI recently announced a new ChatGPT experience for teens and tools to detect serious emotional distress. In August, the company also made headlines after being sued by the parents of a teenager, alleging that ChatGPT encouraged their son to commit suicide.

“We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues, Altman said. “We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right. Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.”

The OpenAI CEO made it clear that the new version of the chatbot that’s coming in a few weeks will only get more “friendly” if users ask it to. As for erotica, verified users will also only get it if they explicitly ask for it.