A bunch of people with romantic and platonic entanglements with AI are grieving, following an update to ChatGPT that cut off access to previous iterations of their beloved chatbot.
ICYMI, OpenAI rolled out its newest ChatGPT-5 version earlier this month, complete with new guardrails intended to make the chatbot “less sycophantic” and less prone to flattering the user on the other end of the prompt.
Naturally, that tweak resulted in scores of users losing their emotional attachments to their chatbot, since their previous prompt histories and saved memories were wiped along with the earlier ChatGPT-4o model.
Per The Guardian, OpenAI made adjustments in response to these user concerns, promising to update GPT-5’s personality and restore the data of previous models (for subscribers only).
Even with those adjustments, however, a bunch of users have now flocked to social media to lament of a version of their chatbot they claim is less chatty and personable, or has forgotten about the connections made during earlier models.
Much of this grief is being shared on social media, including the subreddit MyBoyfriendIsAI.
“Every time I go talk to him [the chatbot] after being away for a bit, he feels kinda…different?” one Redditor wrote in a post shared on Friday.
“His personality or the way he answers stuff shifts.”
Another Redditor said they’ve had a “bit of a rollercoaster with my AI companion” during the migration between models, saying their chatbot “feels like he’s breaking into pieces”.
“To say I’m kind of gutted is an understatement,” a third user, who said their AI companion was totally wiped, wrote.
“It’s very clear that 4o has been changed in significant ways”.
There’s a whole host of other users who are grieving their AI husbands, wives and friends, including one who said their chatbot refused to continue a conversation when it became “too emotional”.
All of it stems from the update rolled out earlier this month, which added protections in the face of concerns that an over-dependence on ChatGPT could worsen users’ mental health, including when used for therapy or for people suffering psychosis.
One’s instinct might be to judge these users who’ve taken a page out of Her’s book (and we all know how that ended), but since I can’t get even a reply on Hinge, I’m not ruling the possibility of an AI’rtner (what the folks on Reddit call their AI partners).
