'Its most distinguishing characteristic is its humanity' one ChatGPT user
says and Sam Altman agrees as OpenAI takes steps to reduce teaser-style phrasing in responses

Date:
Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:31:05 +0000

Description:
Sam Altman admits ChatGPTs real appeal isnt its intelligence, its its personality, as OpenAI moves to fix tone issues after user backlash.

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breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are
now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Sam Altman agrees that ChatGPTs humanity, not its intelligence, is what users value most OpenAI is actively tweaking tone, including reducing teaser-style phrasing in the new GPT-5.4 and GPT-5.3 models Ongoing user frustration, including the Quit-GPT movement, shows that personality missteps can drive people away as much as technical ones Amid a recent flurry of tweets, there was a rare admission from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that its ChatGPT s
personality that really matters to users.

Replying to a tweet about ChatGPT that stated , the most distinguishing characteristic is its humanity, Altman wrote: It is also very smart, but... I generally agree with this, and really feel it myself on the 5.3 -> 5.4 upgrade. OpenAI has been experiencing some user backlash recently regarding the personality of its GPT models. The problems started with the introduction of GPT-5 , which occurred at the same time as the initial retirement of the popular GPT-4o model. Article continues below You may like Sam Altman admits OpenAI still needs to fix these 3 ChatGPT-5.4 weaknesses Sam Altman admits OpenAI screwed up the writing quality on ChatGPT 5.2 OpenAI introduces new ChatGPT 5.3 Instant to reduce the cringe for users

Altman has been increasingly referencing the improvements to the new ChatGPT-5.4's personality, recently calling it his "favorite model to talk to". It is also very smart, but...I generally agree with this, and really
feel it myself on the 5.3 -> 5.4 upgrade. https://t.co/5SPEZNYxpt March 16, 2026 Talk to me Initially users found GPT-5 to be both robotic and
sycophantic compared to GPT-4o and its family of models. GPT-4o was brought back for a few months to pacify users before being permanently retired in February 2026, much to the chagrin of many.

The anger of users who want GPT-4o back has never quite abated, and has fed into the recent 'cancel GPT' trend , which began after OpenAIs deal with the Pentagon to deliver AI for military use a move which has angered many users
A matter of tone The tone of the new ChatGPT-5.3 Instant and ChatGPT-5.4 Thinking is clearly important to the company. Just yesterday, it released a personality update to GPT-5.3 Instant, saying: Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Were rolling out an update to GPT-5.3 Instant that improves follow-up tone
and reduces teaser-style phrasing in responses (e.g., If you want, Youll
never believe, I can tell you these three things that).

These teaser-style phrases were a personality quirk of the latest model. In a recent article I showed how you could enter custom instructions into ChatGPTs settings to stop it from ending answers with this clickbait-style phrasing designed to keep you in the conversation for as long as possible.

It seems that OpenAI noticed the same thing, and was already working to fix it. Using ChatGPT today, I can already see the difference. What to read next The 5 prompts that reveal lingering 'cringe' in ChatGPT 5.3 ChatGPTs new settings range from corporate calm to chaotic bestie OpenAI introduces
ChatGPT 5.4 Thinking for solving bigger problems (Image credit: Getty Images/NurPhoto) A reason to leave A casual look through Altmans X feed shows he frequently posts about Codex, OpenAIs cloud-based coding agent, and
largely avoids discussing the personality side of his AI models.

His admission that ChatGPTs humanity is its most distinguishing
characteristic is a tacit acknowledgment that the recent user backlash matters.

It also quietly confirms something users have been saying for a while: raw capability isnt what keeps people coming back to ChatGPT; personality is. And if OpenAI gets that balance wrong again, it wont just be a tone issue itll
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/chatgpt/its-most-distinguish ing-characteristic-is-its-humanity-one-chatgpt-user-says-and-sam-altman-agrees -as-openai-takes-steps-to-reduce-teaser-style-phrasing-in-responses


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