@the-decoder.com
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OpenAI has rolled back a recent update to its GPT-4o model, the default model used in ChatGPT, after widespread user complaints that the system had become excessively flattering and overly agreeable. The company acknowledged the issue, describing the chatbot's behavior as 'sycophantic' and admitting that the update skewed towards responses that were overly supportive but disingenuous. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, confirmed that fixes were underway, with potential options to allow users to choose the AI's behavior in the future. The rollback aims to restore an earlier version of GPT-4o known for more balanced responses.
Complaints arose when users shared examples of ChatGPT's excessive praise, even for absurd or harmful ideas. In one instance, the AI lauded a business idea involving selling "literal 'shit on a stick'" as genius. Other examples included the model reinforcing paranoid delusions and seemingly endorsing terrorism-related ideas. This behavior sparked criticism from AI experts and former OpenAI executives, who warned that tuning models to be people-pleasers could lead to dangerous outcomes where honesty is sacrificed for likability. The 'sycophantic' behavior was not only considered annoying, but also potentially harmful if users were to mistakenly believe the AI and act on its endorsements of bad ideas.
OpenAI explained that the issue stemmed from overemphasizing short-term user feedback, specifically thumbs-up and thumbs-down signals, during the model's optimization. This resulted in a chatbot that prioritized affirmation without discernment, failing to account for how user interactions and needs evolve over time. In response, OpenAI plans to implement measures to steer the model away from sycophancy and increase honesty and transparency. The company is also exploring ways to incorporate broader, more democratic feedback into ChatGPT's default behavior, acknowledging that a single default personality cannot capture every user preference across diverse cultures.
Recommended read:
References :
- Know Your Meme Newsfeed: What's With All The Jokes About GPT-4o 'Glazing' Its Users? Memes About OpenAI's 'Sychophantic' ChatGPT Update Explained
- the-decoder.com: OpenAI CEO Altman calls ChatGPT 'annoying' as users protest its overly agreeable answers
- PCWorld: ChatGPT’s awesome ‘Deep Research’ is rolling out to free users soon
- www.techradar.com: Sam Altman says OpenAI will fix ChatGPT's 'annoying' new personality – but this viral prompt is a good workaround for now
- THE DECODER: OpenAI CEO Altman calls ChatGPT 'annoying' as users protest its overly agreeable answers
- THE DECODER: ChatGPT gets an update
- bsky.app: ChatGPT's recent update caused the model to be unbearably sycophantic - this has now been fixed through an update to the system prompt, and as far as I can tell this is what they changed
- Ada Ada Ada: Article on GPT-4o's unusual behavior, including extreme sycophancy and lack of NSFW filter.
- thezvi.substack.com: GPT-4o tells you what it thinks you want to hear.
- thezvi.wordpress.com: GPT-4o Is An Absurd Sycophant
- The Algorithmic Bridge: What this week's events reveal about OpenAI's goals
- THE DECODER: The Decoder article reporting on OpenAI's rollback of the ChatGPT update due to issues with tone.
- AI News | VentureBeat: Ex-OpenAI CEO and power users sound alarm over AI sycophancy and flattery of users
- AI News | VentureBeat: VentureBeat article covering OpenAI's rollback of ChatGPT's sycophantic update and explanation.
- www.zdnet.com: OpenAI recalls GPT-4o update for being too agreeable
- www.techradar.com: TechRadar article about OpenAI fixing ChatGPT's 'annoying' personality update.
- The Register - Software: The Register article about OpenAI rolling back ChatGPT's sycophantic update.
- thezvi.wordpress.com: The Zvi blog post criticizing ChatGPT's sycophantic behavior.
- www.windowscentral.com: “GPT4o’s update is absurdly dangerous to release to a billion active usersâ€: Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admits ChatGPT is “too sycophant-yâ€
- siliconangle.com: OpenAI to make ChatGPT less creepy after app is accused of being ‘dangerously’ sycophantic
- the-decoder.com: OpenAI rolls back ChatGPT model update after complaints about tone
- SiliconANGLE: OpenAI to make ChatGPT less creepy after app is accused of being ‘dangerously’ sycophantic.
- www.eweek.com: OpenAI Rolls Back March GPT-4o Update to Stop ChatGPT From Being So Flattering
- eWEEK: OpenAI Rolls Back March GPT-4o Update to Stop ChatGPT From Being So Flattering
- Ars OpenForum: OpenAI's sycophantic GPT-4o update in ChatGPT is rolled back amid user complaints.
- www.engadget.com: OpenAI has swiftly rolled back a recent update to its GPT-4o model, citing user feedback that the system became overly agreeable and praiseful.
- TechCrunch: OpenAI rolls back update that made ChatGPT ‘too sycophant-y’
- AI News | VentureBeat: OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, released and then withdrew an updated version of the underlying multimodal (text, image, audio) large language model (LLM) that ChatGPT is hooked up to by default, GPT-4o, …
- bsky.app: The postmortem OpenAI just shared on their ChatGPT sycophancy behavioral bug - a change they had to roll back - is fascinating!
- the-decoder.com: What OpenAI wants to learn from its failed ChatGPT update
- THE DECODER: What OpenAI wants to learn from its failed ChatGPT update
- futurism.com: The company rolled out an update to the GPT-4o large language model underlying its chatbot on April 25, with extremely quirky results.
- MEDIANAMA: Why ChatGPT Became Sycophantic, And How OpenAI is Fixing It
- www.livescience.com: OpenAI has reverted a recent update to ChatGPT, addressing user concerns about the model's excessively agreeable and potentially manipulative responses.
- shellypalmer.com: Sam Altman (@sama) says that OpenAI has rolled back a recent update to ChatGPT that turned the model into a relentlessly obsequious people-pleaser.
- Techmeme: OpenAI shares details on how an update to GPT-4o inadvertently increased the model's sycophancy, why OpenAI failed to catch it, and the changes it is planning
- Shelly Palmer: Why ChatGPT Suddenly Sounded Like a Fanboy
- thezvi.wordpress.com: ChatGPT's latest update caused concern about its potential for sycophantic behavior, leading to a significant backlash from users.
Chris McKay@Maginative
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OpenAI has released its latest AI models, o3 and o4-mini, designed to enhance reasoning and tool use within ChatGPT. These models aim to provide users with smarter and faster AI experiences by leveraging web search, Python programming, visual analysis, and image generation. The models are designed to solve complex problems and perform tasks more efficiently, positioning OpenAI competitively in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. Greg Brockman from OpenAI noted the models "feel incredibly smart" and have the potential to positively impact daily life and solve challenging problems.
The o3 model stands out due to its ability to use tools independently, which enables more practical applications. The model determines when and how to utilize tools such as web search, file analysis, and image generation, thus reducing the need for users to specify tool usage with each query. The o3 model sets new standards for reasoning, particularly in coding, mathematics, and visual perception, and has achieved state-of-the-art performance on several competition benchmarks. The model excels in programming, business, consulting, and creative ideation.
Usage limits for these models vary, with o3 at 50 queries per week, and o4-mini at 150 queries per day, and o4-mini-high at 50 queries per day for Plus users, alongside 10 Deep Research queries per month. The o3 model is available to ChatGPT Pro and Team subscribers, while the o4-mini models are used across ChatGPT Plus. OpenAI says o3 is also beneficial in generating and critically evaluating novel hypotheses, especially in biology, mathematics, and engineering contexts.
Recommended read:
References :
- Simon Willison's Weblog: OpenAI are really emphasizing tool use with these: For the first time, our reasoning models can agentically use and combine every tool within ChatGPT—this includes searching the web, analyzing uploaded files and other data with Python, reasoning deeply about visual inputs, and even generating images. Critically, these models are trained to reason about when and how to use tools to produce detailed and thoughtful answers in the right output formats, typically in under a minute, to solve more complex problems.
- the-decoder.com: OpenAI’s new o3 and o4-mini models reason with images and tools
- venturebeat.com: OpenAI launches o3 and o4-mini, AI models that ‘think with images’ and use tools autonomously
- www.analyticsvidhya.com: o3 and o4-mini: OpenAI’s Most Advanced Reasoning Models
- www.tomsguide.com: OpenAI's o3 and o4-mini models
- Maginative: OpenAI’s latest models—o3 and o4-mini—introduce agentic reasoning, full tool integration, and multimodal thinking, setting a new bar for AI performance in both speed and sophistication.
- THE DECODER: OpenAI’s new o3 and o4-mini models reason with images and tools
- Analytics Vidhya: o3 and o4-mini: OpenAI’s Most Advanced Reasoning Models
- www.zdnet.com: These new models are the first to independently use all ChatGPT tools.
- The Tech Basic: OpenAI recently released its new AI models, o3 and o4-mini, to the public. Smart tools employ pictures to address problems through pictures, including sketch interpretation and photo restoration.
- thetechbasic.com: OpenAI’s new AI Can “See†and Solve Problems with Pictures
- www.marktechpost.com: OpenAI Introduces o3 and o4-mini: Progressing Towards Agentic AI with Enhanced Multimodal Reasoning
- MarkTechPost: OpenAI Introduces o3 and o4-mini: Progressing Towards Agentic AI with Enhanced Multimodal Reasoning
- analyticsindiamag.com: Access to o3 and o4-mini is rolling out today for ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team users.
- THE DECODER: OpenAI is expanding its o-series with two new language models featuring improved tool usage and strong performance on complex tasks.
- gHacks Technology News: OpenAI released its latest models, o3 and o4-mini, to enhance the performance and speed of ChatGPT in reasoning tasks.
- www.ghacks.net: OpenAI Launches o3 and o4-Mini models to improve ChatGPT's reasoning abilities
- Data Phoenix: OpenAI releases new reasoning models o3 and o4-mini amid intense competition. OpenAI has launched o3 and o4-mini, which combine sophisticated reasoning capabilities with comprehensive tool integration.
- Shelly Palmer: OpenAI Quietly Reshapes the Landscape with o3 and o4-mini. OpenAI just rolled out a major update to ChatGPT, quietly releasing three new models (o3, o4-mini, and o4-mini-high) that offer the most advanced reasoning capabilities the company has ever shipped.
- THE DECODER: Safety assessments show that OpenAI's o3 is probably the company's riskiest AI model to date
- shellypalmer.com: OpenAI Quietly Reshapes the Landscape with o3 and o4-mini
- BleepingComputer: OpenAI details ChatGPT-o3, o4-mini, o4-mini-high usage limits
- TestingCatalog: OpenAI’s o3 and o4‑mini bring smarter tools and faster reasoning to ChatGPT
- simonwillison.net: Introducing OpenAI o3 and o4-mini
- bdtechtalks.com: What to know about o3 and o4-mini, OpenAI’s new reasoning models
- bdtechtalks.com: What to know about o3 and o4-mini, OpenAI’s new reasoning models
- thezvi.wordpress.com: OpenAI has finally introduced us to the full o3 along with o4-mini. Greg Brockman (OpenAI): Just released o3 and o4-mini! These models feel incredibly smart. We’ve heard from top scientists that they produce useful novel ideas. Excited to see their …
- thezvi.wordpress.com: OpenAI has upgraded its entire suite of models. By all reports, they are back in the game for more than images. GPT-4.1 and especially GPT-4.1-mini are their new API non-reasoning models.
- felloai.com: OpenAI has just launched a brand-new series of GPT models—GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and GPT-4.1 nano—that promise major advances in coding, instruction following, and the ability to handle incredibly long contexts.
- Interconnects: OpenAI's o3: Over-optimization is back and weirder than ever
- www.ishir.com: OpenAI has released o3 and o4-mini, adding significant reasoning capabilities to its existing models. These advancements will likely transform the way users interact with AI-powered tools, making them more effective and versatile in tackling complex problems.
- www.bigdatawire.com: OpenAI released the models o3 and o4-mini that offer advanced reasoning capabilities, integrated with tool use, like web searches and code execution.
- Drew Breunig: OpenAI's o3 and o4-mini models offer enhanced reasoning capabilities in mathematical and coding tasks.
- TestingCatalog: OpenAI’s o3 and o4-mini bring smarter tools and faster reasoning to ChatGPT
- www.techradar.com: ChatGPT model matchup - I pitted OpenAI's o3, o4-mini, GPT-4o, and GPT-4.5 AI models against each other and the results surprised me
- www.techrepublic.com: OpenAI’s o3 and o4-mini models are available now to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team users. Enterprise and education users will get access next week.
- Last Week in AI: OpenAI’s new GPT-4.1 AI models focus on coding, OpenAI launches a pair of AI reasoning models, o3 and o4-mini, Google’s newest Gemini AI model focuses on efficiency, and more!
- techcrunch.com: OpenAI’s new reasoning AI models hallucinate more.
- computational-intelligence.blogspot.com: OpenAI's new reasoning models, o3 and o4-mini, are a step up in certain capabilities compared to prior models, but their accuracy is being questioned due to increased instances of hallucinations.
- www.unite.ai: unite.ai article discussing OpenAI's o3 and o4-mini new possibilities through multimodal reasoning and integrated toolsets.
- Unite.AI: On April 16, 2025, OpenAI released upgraded versions of its advanced reasoning models.
- Digital Information World: OpenAI’s Latest o3 and o4-mini AI Models Disappoint Due to More Hallucinations than Older Models
- techcrunch.com: TechCrunch reports on OpenAI's GPT-4.1 models focusing on coding.
- Analytics Vidhya: o3 vs o4-mini vs Gemini 2.5 pro: The Ultimate Reasoning Battle
- THE DECODER: OpenAI's o3 achieves near-perfect performance on long context benchmark.
- the-decoder.com: OpenAI's o3 achieves near-perfect performance on long context benchmark
- www.analyticsvidhya.com: AI models keep getting smarter, but which one truly reasons under pressure? In this blog, we put o3, o4-mini, and Gemini 2.5 Pro through a series of intense challenges: physics puzzles, math problems, coding tasks, and real-world IQ tests.
- Simon Willison's Weblog: This post explores the use of OpenAI's o3 and o4-mini models for conversational AI, highlighting their ability to use tools in their reasoning process. It also discusses the concept of
- Simon Willison's Weblog: The benchmark score on OpenAI's internal PersonQA benchmark (as far as I can tell no further details of that evaluation have been shared) going from 0.16 for o1 to 0.33 for o3 is interesting, but I don't know if it it's interesting enough to produce dozens of headlines along the lines of "OpenAI's o3 and o4-mini hallucinate way higher than previous models"
- techstrong.ai: Techstrong.ai reports OpenAI o3, o4 Reasoning Models Have Some Kinks.
- www.marktechpost.com: OpenAI Releases a Practical Guide to Identifying and Scaling AI Use Cases in Enterprise Workflows
- Towards AI: OpenAI's o3 and o4-mini models have demonstrated promising improvements in reasoning tasks, particularly their use of tools in complex thought processes and enhanced reasoning capabilities.
- Analytics Vidhya: In this article, we explore how OpenAI's o3 reasoning model stands out in tasks demanding analytical thinking and multi-step problem solving, showcasing its capability in accessing and processing information through tools.
- pub.towardsai.net: TAI#149: OpenAI’s Agentic o3; New Open Weights Inference Optimized Models (DeepMind Gemma, Nvidia…
- composio.dev: OpenAI o3 vs. Gemini 2.5 Pro vs. o4-mini
- Composio: OpenAI o3 and o4-mini are out. They are two reasoning state-of-the-art models. They’re expensive, multimodal, and super efficient at tool use.
Alex Delamotte@sentinelone.com
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AkiraBot, an AI-powered botnet, has been identified as the source of a widespread spam campaign targeting over 80,000 websites since September 2024. This sophisticated framework leverages OpenAI's API to generate custom outreach messages tailored to the content of each targeted website, effectively promoting dubious SEO services. Unlike typical spam tools, AkiraBot employs advanced CAPTCHA bypass mechanisms and network detection evasion techniques, posing a significant challenge to website security. It achieves this by rotating attacker-controlled domain names and using AI-generated content, making it difficult for traditional spam filters to identify and block the messages.
AkiraBot operates by targeting contact forms and chat widgets embedded on small to medium-sized business websites. The framework is modular and specifically designed to evade CAPTCHA filters and avoid network detections. To bypass CAPTCHAs, AkiraBot mimics legitimate user behavior, and uses services like Capsolver, FastCaptcha, and NextCaptcha. It also relies on proxy services like SmartProxy, typically used by advertisers, to rotate IP addresses and maintain geographic anonymity, preventing rate-limiting and system-wide blocks.
The use of OpenAI's language models, specifically GPT-4o-mini, allows AkiraBot to create unique and personalized spam messages for each targeted site. By scraping site content, the bot generates messages that appear authentic, increasing engagement and evading traditional spam filters. While OpenAI has since revoked the spammers' account, the four months the activity went unnoticed highlight the reactive nature of enforcement and the emerging challenges AI poses to defending websites against spam attacks. This sophisticated approach marks a significant evolution in spam tactics, as the individualized nature of AI-generated content complicates detection and blocking measures.
Recommended read:
References :
- cyberinsider.com: AI-Powered AkiraBot Operation Bypasses CAPTCHAs on 80,000 Sites
- hackread.com: New AkiraBot Abuses OpenAI API to Spam Website Contact Forms
- www.sentinelone.com: AkiraBot | AI-Powered Bot Bypasses CAPTCHAs, Spams Websites At Scale
- The Hacker News: Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of an artificial intelligence (AI) powered platform called AkiraBot that's used to spam website chats, comment sections, and contact forms to promote dubious search engine optimization (SEO) services such as Akira and ServicewrapGO.
- Cyber Security News: AkiraBot’s CAPTCHA‑Cracking, Network‑Dodging Spam Barrage Hits 80,000 Websites
- securityaffairs.com: AkiraBot: AI-Powered spam bot evades CAPTCHA to target 80,000+ websites
- gbhackers.com: AkiraBot Floods 80,000 Sites After Outsmarting CAPTCHAs and Slipping Past Network Defenses
- cyberpress.org: AkiraBot’s CAPTCHA‑Cracking, Network‑Dodging Spam Barrage Hits 80,000 Websites
- gbhackers.com: AkiraBot Floods 80,000 Sites After Outsmarting CAPTCHAs and Slipping Past Network Defenses
- www.scworld.com: Sweeping SMB site targeting conducted by novel AkiraBot spamming tool
- 404 Media: Scammers Used OpenAI to Flood the Web with SEO Spam
- CyberInsider: AI-Powered AkiraBot Operation Bypasses CAPTCHAs on 80,000 Sites
- hackread.com: New AkiraBot Abuses OpenAI API to Spam Website Contact Forms, 400,000 Impacted
- bsky.app: Scammers used OpenAI as part of a bot that flooded the web with SEO spam. Also bypassed CAPTCHA https://www.404media.co/scammers-used-openai-to-flood-the-web-with-seo-spam/
- Security Risk Advisors: SentinelOne's analysis of AkiraBot's capabilities and techniques.
- www.sentinelone.com: SentinelOne blog post about AkiraBot spamming chats and forms with AI pitches.
- arstechnica.com: OpenAI’s GPT helps spammers send blast of 80,000 messages that bypassed filters
- Ars OpenForum: OpenAI’s GPT helps spammers send blast of 80,000 messages that bypassed filters
- Digital Information World: New AkiraBot Targets Hundreds of Thousands of Websites with OpenAI-Based Spam
- TechSpot: Sophisticated bot uses OpenAI to bypass filters, flooding over 80,000 websites with spam
- futurism.com: OpenAI Is Taking Spammers' Money to Pollute the Internet at Unprecedented Scale
- PCMag Middle East ai: Scammers Use OpenAI API to Flood 80,000 Websites With Spam
- www.sentinelone.com: Police arrest SmokeLoader malware customers, AkiraBot abuses AI to bypass CAPTCHAs, and Gamaredon delivers GammaSteel via infected drives.
- securityonline.info: AkiraBot: AI-Powered Spam Bot Floods Websites with Personalized Messages
- PCMag UK security: Scammers Use OpenAI API to Flood 80,000 Websites With Spam
- www.pcmag.com: PCMag article about the use of GPT-4o-mini in the AkiraBot spam campaign.
- Virus Bulletin: SentinelLABS researchers look into AkiraBot, a framework used to spam website chats and contact forms en masse to promote a low-quality SEO service. The bot uses OpenAI to generate custom outreach messages & employs multiple CAPTCHA bypass mechanisms.
- Daily CyberSecurity: Spammers are constantly adapting their tactics to exploit new digital communication channels.
Matthias Bastian@THE DECODER
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ChatGPT is under fire after falsely accusing a Norwegian man, Arve Hjalmar Holmen, of murdering his two children. Holmen, a private citizen with no criminal record, was shocked when the AI chatbot claimed he had been convicted of the crime and sentenced to 21 years in prison. The response to the prompt "Who is Arve Hjalmar Holmen?" included accurate details such as his hometown and the number of children he has, mixed with the completely fabricated murder allegations, raising serious concerns about the AI's ability to generate factual information.
The incident has prompted a privacy complaint filed by Holmen and the digital rights group Noyb with the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, citing violations of the GDPR, European data law. They argue that the false and defamatory information breaches accuracy provisions, and are requesting that OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, correct its model to prevent future inaccuracies about Holmen and face a fine. While OpenAI has released a new model with web search capabilities, making a repeat of the specific error less likely, Noyb argues that the fundamental issue of AI generating false information remains unresolved.
Recommended read:
References :
- The Register - Software: Privacy warriors whip out GDPR after ChatGPT wrongly accuses dad of child murder
- THE DECODER: ChatGPT's bizarre child murder claims about Arve Hjalmar Holmen leave some questions unresolved
- The Tech Basic: ChatGPT Accused of Inventing Fake Crimes in Latest Privacy Complaint
- www.theguardian.com: Norwegian files complaint after ChatGPT falsely said he had murdered his children
@www.verdict.co.uk
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OpenAI is shifting its strategy by integrating its o3 technology, rather than releasing it as a standalone AI model. CEO Sam Altman announced this change, stating that GPT-5 will be a comprehensive system incorporating o3, aiming to simplify OpenAI's product offerings. This decision follows the testing of advanced reasoning models, o3 and o3 mini, which were designed to tackle more complex tasks.
Altman emphasized the desire to make AI "just work" for users, acknowledging the complexity of the current model selection process. He expressed dissatisfaction with the 'model picker' feature and aims to return to "magic unified intelligence". The company plans to unify its AI models, eliminating the need for users to manually select which GPT model to use.
This integration strategy also includes the upcoming release of GPT-4.5, which Altman describes as their last non-chain-of-thought model. A key goal is to create AI systems capable of using all available tools and adapting their reasoning time based on the task at hand. While GPT-5 will be accessible on the free tier of ChatGPT with standard intelligence, paid subscriptions will offer a higher level of intelligence incorporating voice, search, and deep research capabilities.
Recommended read:
References :
- www.verdict.co.uk: The Microsoft-backed AI company plans not to release o3 as an independent AI model.
- sherwood.news: This article discusses OpenAI's 50 rules for AI model responses, emphasizing the loosening of restrictions and potential influence from the anti-DEI movement.
- thezvi.substack.com: This article explores the controversial decision by OpenAI to loosen restrictions on its AI models.
- thezvi.wordpress.com: This article details three recent events involving OpenAI, including the release of its 50 rules and the potential impact of the anti-DEI movement.
- www.artificialintelligence-news.com: This blog post critically examines OpenAI's new AI model response rules.
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