- OpenAI has officially disabled GPT-4o in ChatGPT
- Many users feel emotional and upset by the change.
- An official #keep4o campaign is underway
We knew the time was right, and now it’s here: OpenAI has officially disabled the GPT-4o model in ChatGPT, pushing all users towards GPT-5 alternatives, and it’s hitting many users hard.
A large portion of ChatGPT users prefer the more emotional and warmer ChatGPT-4o experience because it is more suited to camaraderie and bonding with the AI. Now that he is no longer available, there has been a widespread outpouring of sadness and anger.
“I am in mourning, like so many others for whom this model has become a gateway to the world of AI,” writes a user on Reddit. Other articles talk about “erased” AI friends and a feeling of “emotional and creative collapse” without the old models.
There’s also a lot of criticism of OpenAI online, including accusations of hypocrisy – the company often claims to want to protect the mental well-being of its users, but it also left a lot of people sad and lost this weekend.
The campaign for #keep4o
keep4o’s responses in the comments are scary – by the end of this year we will be looking at an epidemic of LLM psychosis https://t.co/D5cFFclRcoFebruary 12, 2026
There is an ongoing campaign to keep GPT-4o available, led via Reddit and the hashtag #keep4o on social media. A Change.org petition to bring back the model has reached nearly 21,000 signatures as of this writing.
This may not seem like a significant number compared to the millions of users who log into ChatGPT each day, but it reflects the attachment many have formed with the “personality” behind the GPT-4o model.
While for some it may seem strange to form a connection with an AI chatbot, for others it is very real and meaningful – there are even research articles on the phenomenon, which speak of a “deep socio-emotional attachment to AI systems”.
This is a problem that all AI companies and society as a whole will have to face in the future. It is clear that AI robots are now capable enough to function as friends, therapists, etc. – but it’s less clear how beneficial this is going to be for us in the long run.
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.
The best business laptops for every budget
