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Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 10, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Is anyone watching the chatGPT 5 "bring back 4o" meltdown on /r/chatGPT and /r/OpenAI?

It's insane. People are losing their shit about 4o being taken away to the point it's back now (lmfao). There's also a huge push of "don't mock others for using 4o as a trusted friend you just don't understand". It's honestly equal parts hilarious and horrifying.

For additional fun, browse the comments, obviously there are idiots on the internet, but these people are cooked.

I had thought the internet collectively agreed that RLHF had resulted in glazing that was a huge issue. But it turns out a sizable amount of people actually loved it.

Also funny, gpt5 can glaze you if you ask it, but I guess the median Redditor complaining about this doesn't understand custom instructions. Similarly, people are clearly giving gpt5 custom instructions to be as robotic as possible and then posting screenshots of it... being robotic.

The whole thing makes me rather worried about the state of western society/mental health, in the same way that OnlyFans "chat to the creator" feature does. We need government enforced grass-touching or something.

Here's something on the feed over at /r/ChatGPT:

First thing first, we need to stop shaming and laughing at people who were using 4o as emotional support. You never know what someone is going through. When people are on their lowest, they can turn to alcohol, self harm or drugs. Some will use AI to get better and some will use therapy while others will take their lifes. (Answer yourself what's better, considering that not everyone have acces to professional help) - These people need help, not bullying. Another thing, and i need ya'll to stay with me. NOT. EVERYONE. ARE. USING. 4o. AS. EMOTIONAL. SUPPORT. Many people (including me 🙋🏻‍♀️) were using 4o for creative writing, and GPT5 sucks at this. Also, not everyone are using Chatgpt for coding etc. Ofc, ChatGPT should work on improving and creating new models, but it's just stupid to take away older models, especially when people were actually using them. I invite you to the discussion 👀

Ahhhh. The emphasis added was mine. GPT-4o is so bad at creative writing. It's a travesty. This person needs to be admitted to a hospital and have their brain dissected.

Similarly, people are clearly giving gpt5 custom instructions to be as robotic as possible and then posting screenshots of it... being robotic.

Hell, given that one of the default options for the personality is "Robot"..

I miss o3. It was autistic, but in an endearing way. It was amusing to see it scurry about likely the world's busiest beaver. If you asked it what's 1+1, it would attempt to derive Peano arithmetic. It had a personality very distinct from any other other model.

I also miss 4.1, even though it was a model optimized for coding, it did really solid on my own vibe benchmarks when it comes to writing fiction.