The move is a stunning reversal, proving that even the most powerful AI company can’t ignore a mutiny from its loyal user base.
After a disastrous 72 hours that saw its most loyal users in open revolt, OpenAI is making a major U-turn.
In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) Sunday, CEO Sam Altman announced that the company is bringing back its beloved older AI models, including GPT-4o, and dramatically increasing usage limits for paying subscribers, a clear peace offering to a furious customer base.
The move comes just days after the botched rollout of GPT-5, the company’s latest and most powerful model. The launch, which should have been a triumph, instead sparked a firestorm.
the percentage of users using reasoning models each day is significantly increasing; for example, for free users we went from <1% to 7%, and for plus users from 7% to 24%.
i expect use of reasoning to greatly increase over time, so rate limit increases are important.
Sam Altman (@sama) August 10, 2025
A Botched Launch and a User Mutiny
On August 7, OpenAI launched GPT-5, presenting it as a “unified system” that would automatically route user queries to the best model for the job. In doing so, it removed the menu that allowed users to choose between older, trusted models like GPT-4o, which was launched in March 2023.
For customers paying for subscriptions like ChatGPT Plus ($20/month), the sudden change felt like a betrayal.
