Technologies

OpenAI Yanked a ChatGPT Update. Here’s What It Said and Why It Matters

The company says it plans to be more careful when releasing updates in the future.

Recent updates to ChatGPT made the chatbot far too agreeable and OpenAI said Friday it’s taking steps to prevent the issue from happening again.

In a blog post, the company detailed its testing and evaluation process for new models and outlined how the problem with the April 25 update to its GPT-4o model came to be. Essentially, a bunch of changes that individually seemed helpful combined to create a tool that was far too sycophantic and potentially harmful.

How much of a suck-up was it? In some testing earlier this week, we asked about a tendency to be overly sentimental, and ChatGPT laid on the flattery: «Hey, listen up — being sentimental isn’t a weakness; it’s one of your superpowers.» And it was just getting started being fulsome.

«This launch taught us a number of lessons. Even with what we thought were all the right ingredients in place (A/B tests, offline evals, expert reviews), we still missed this important issue,» the company said.

OpenAI rolled back the update this week. To avoid causing new issues, it took about 24 hours to revert the model for everybody.

The concern around sycophancy isn’t just about the enjoyment level of the user experience. It posed a health and safety threat to users that OpenAI’s existing safety checks missed. Any AI model can give questionable advice about topics like mental health but one that is overly flattering can be dangerously deferential or convincing — like whether that investment is a sure thing or how thin you should seek to be.

«One of the biggest lessons is fully recognizing how people have started to use ChatGPT for deeply personal advice — something we didn’t see as much even a year ago,» OpenAI said. «At the time, this wasn’t a primary focus but as AI and society have co-evolved, it’s become clear that we need to treat this use case with great care.»

Sycophantic large language models can reinforce biases and harden beliefs, whether they’re about yourself or others, said Maarten Sap, assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. «[The LLM] can end up emboldening their opinions if these opinions are harmful or if they want to take actions that are harmful to themselves or others.»

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed on Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

How OpenAI tests models and what’s changing

The company offered some insight into how it tests its models and updates. This was the fifth major update to GPT-4o focused on personality and helpfulness. The changes involved new post-training work or fine-tuning on the existing models, including the rating and evaluation of various responses to prompts to make it more likely to produce those responses that rated more highly.

Prospective model updates are evaluated on their usefulness across a variety of situations, like coding and math, along with specific tests by experts to experience how it behaves in practice. The company also runs safety evaluations to see how it responds to safety, health and other potentially dangerous queries. Finally, OpenAI runs A/B tests with a small number of users to see how it performs in the real world.

The April 25 update performed well in these tests, but some expert testers indicated the personality seemed a bit off. The tests didn’t specifically look at sycophancy, and OpenAI decided to move forward despite the issues raised by testers. Take note, readers: AI companies are in a tail-on-fire hurry, which doesn’t always square well with well thought-out product development.

«Looking back, the qualitative assessments were hinting at something important and we should’ve paid closer attention,» the company said.

Among its takeaways, OpenAI said it needs to treat model behavior issues the same as it would other safety issues — and halt a launch if there are concerns. For some model releases, the company said it would have an opt-in «alpha» phase to get more feedback from users before a broader launch.

Sap said evaluating an LLM based on whether a user likes the response isn’t necessarily going to get you the most honest chatbot. In a recent study, Sap and others found a conflict between the usefulness and truthfulness of a chatbot. He compared it to situations where the truth is not necessarily what people want — think about a car salesperson trying to sell a vehicle.

«The issue here is that they were trusting the users’ thumbs-up/thumbs-down response to the model’s outputs and that has some limitations because people are likely to upvote something that is more sycophantic than others,» he said.

Sap said OpenAI is right to be more critical of quantitative feedback, such as user up/down responses, as they can reinforce biases.

The issue also highlighted the speed at which companies push updates and changes out to existing users, Sap said — an issue that’s not limited to one tech company. «The tech industry has really taken a ‘release it and every user is a beta tester’ approach to things,» he said. Having a process with more testing before updates are pushed to every user can bring these issues to light before they become widespread.

Technologies

Everyone Needs Exactly Three Pairs of Headphones. Here Are My Picks

For everyday use, exercising and lengthy listening time, three is the perfect number for a headphones collection. Let me explain.

When most people ask you what your «big three» are, they’re likely inquiring about your sun, moon and rising signs. But when I ask you the same question, I’m not trying to determine your horoscope. Instead, I’m curious what your headphone collection looks like.

After more than a decade working as a technology journalist, I’m in the fortunate position of having what most people would consider to be too much tech in my house. I make a real effort to keep it to a minimum and try not to accumulate any superfluous gadgets. But with headphones, I’ve reached the conclusion that everyone needs at least three pairs. No matter how hard I’ve tried, I can’t pare this number back.

See also: Best Earbud and Headphone Deals: Bag Big Savings on Models From Apple, Sony and Others

First, there are the everyday earbuds. These are the ones that can slide into your smallest bag or your pocket and travel everywhere with you — on your commute, on your errands and on shopping trips.

Second, there are the over-ear, luxury headphones. These need to have that heady combo of great noise cancellation, audio quality and battery life, combined with a level of comfort that means you could easily wear them for an entire long-haul travel day.

Finally, if you’re serious about fitness, you need dedicated workout headphones. Could you wear either of the above pairs to go on a long run? Sure, and plenty of people do. But for the sake of longevity and your sanity, having a sweat-proof, durable pair of headphones that won’t budge may save your sanity in the short term and save you money in the long run.

If you’re trying to make one pair of headphones work in every scenario, you might feel frustrated that none are able to truly deliver the experience you want across the board. This is where my theory comes into play. It really doesn’t matter which headphones you choose for each of these purposes but I do believe they are distinct categories with little crossover.

And what are my big three? They may not be the same as yours but these are the headphones I absolutely can’t live without right now.

My everyday earbuds: OnePlus Buds 3

I will die on the hill that you shouldn’t spend more than $100 on your everyday earbuds — the kind that you will drop, accidentally bash and at some point, inevitably, lose. So much about buds comes down to personal preference on how they actually feel when tucked inside your ears.

Personally, I’ve settled on the OnePlus Buds 3, which list right at $100. They’re aesthetically pleasing in a pale blue that matches my preferred fashion color palette, and I find them to be supremely comfortable. I’ve been using them for a good six months and I don’t have any of the usual niggles I have with earbuds — by which I mean they don’t fall out of my ears or have any random, weird sound glitches.

Soundwise, I enjoy the heavy bass and find the ANC to suit my needs as a frequent traveler on public transportation. With 10 hours of battery life, plus an additional 44 in the case, these buds have never let me down. They’re not necessarily anything special but I keep reaching for them even though I have other options at my disposal.

My luxury over-ear headphones: Dali IO-8

At the other end of the spectrum, my favorite luxury headphones have transformed my longest travel days into periods of prolonged sonic bliss. I wear the Dali IO-8 headphones through airports, on plane journeys, all the way through to checking into my hotel. They also come with me on my daily hot girl walks.

With 30 hours of battery life and decent ANC, they allow me to move through the world in my own little bubble. Not only are they truly the most luxurious and comfortable headphones I’ve ever used, they also provide me with glorious sound.

You can switch between two modes: hi-fi and bass. I usually stick with the former. No matter whether I’m immersed in an audiobook, bopping away to Paramore, spacing out to Sigur Ros or getting lost once again in the depths of Taylor Swift’s back catalog, the $1,100 Dali IO-8s deliver.

My workout headphones: Beats Powerbeats Pro 2

There’s no two ways about it: I’ve tried other workout headphones and I keep coming back to Beats. I’ve been known to tie up my running shoes and be halfway out the door, then calling the whole run off because I can’t find my Powerbeats.

I’ve been a fan since the earliest Powerbeats model but the latest Powerbeats Pro 2, priced at $249, are my favorite workout headphones yet. Once in, they simultaneously feel glued to my head with a tight seal in my ear, while also being so light and comfortable I forget they’re there. This is an essential combination when you’re exercising, as the last thing you want to do is deal with any discomfort or annoyance that might distract from your workout.

CNET’s resident audio expert, David Carnoy, rated the Powerbeats Pro 2 an 8.8 out of 10, noting the improved sound quality and good noise canceling. As someone who’s long been a fan of this line, I have to agree and I’d go so far as to say this latest upgrade has made running to my favorite high-energy tracks more enjoyable than ever.

Technologies

iPhone Battery Dying Fast? Turn Off These 3 Settings

Want better battery life? These are the settings to disable ASAP.

Do you find yourself constantly charging your iPhone when the Low Power Mode warning pops up? While phones hold less of a charge over time, you don’t want your phone to die on you while you’re using it to navigate on the road or in the middle of a conversation.

While your phone’s battery might not have the capacity to hold the charge it did when it was fresh out of the box, there are options that can help you squeeze more juice out of each charge. By disabling certain settings, you can ensure your iPhone battery can go the distance when you need it most.

You can also keep an eye on your Battery Health menu — it’ll tell you your battery health percentage (80% or higher is considered good), as well as show you how many times you’ve cycled your battery and whether or not your battery is «normal.»

We’ll explain three iOS features that put a strain on your iPhone’s battery to varying degrees, and show how you can turn them off to help preserve battery life. Here’s what you need to know.

Turn off widgets on your iPhone lock screen

All the widgets on your lock screen force your apps to automatically run in the background, constantly fetching data to update the information the widgets display, like sports scores or the weather. Because these apps are constantly running in the background due to your widgets, that means they continuously drain power.

If you want to help preserve some battery on iOS 18, the best thing to do is simply avoid widgets on your lock screen (and home screen). The easiest way to do this is to switch to another lock screen profile: Press your finger down on your existing lock screen and then swipe around to choose one that doesn’t have any widgets.

If you want to just remove the widgets from your existing lock screen, press down on your lock screen, hit Customize, choose the Lock Screen option, tap on the widget box and then hit the «—» button on each widget to remove them.

Reduce the motion of your iPhone UI

Your iPhone user interface has some fun, sleek animations. There’s the fluid motion of opening and closing apps, and the burst of color that appears when you activate Siri with Apple Intelligence, just to name a couple. These visual tricks help bring the slab of metal and glass in your hand to life. Unfortunately, they can also reduce your phone’s battery life.

If you want subtler animations across iOS, you can enable the Reduce Motion setting. To do this, go to Settings > Accessibility > Motion and toggle on Reduce Motion.

Switch off your iPhone’s keyboard vibration

Surprisingly, the keyboard on the iPhone has never had the ability to vibrate as you type, an addition called «haptic feedback» that was added to iPhones with iOS 16. Instead of just hearing click-clack sounds, haptic feedback gives each key a vibration, providing a more immersive experience as you type. According to Apple, the very same feature may also affect battery life.

According to this Apple support page about the keyboard, haptic feedback «might affect the battery life of your iPhone.» No specifics are given as to how much battery life the keyboard feature drains, but if you want to conserve battery, it’s best to keep this feature disabled.

Fortunately, it is not enabled by default. If you’ve enabled it yourself, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Keyboard Feedback and toggle off Haptic to turn off haptic feedback for your keyboard.

For more tips on iOS, learn how to download iOS 18 and how to automatically delete multifactor authentication messages from texts and emails.

Technologies

Google’s Nudity Warnings Will Warn You of Incoming Explicit Images in Messages

The process happens entirely on your device, and Google says it doesn’t have access to any images.

Google wants to give you more control over viewing and sharing images that may be explicit when they’re sent to you via Google Messages. The tech giant is currently rolling out sensitive content warnings, a safety feature announced last year that will automatically blur images suspected of containing nudity before they’re viewed.

When a message comes in, you’ll see a «speed bump» notification, where you have to stop and choose an option before opening a message. Those options include learning why explicit images can be harmful, getting the chance to block the number immediately, getting the option to click Back or choosing the ability to view the image. It will also remind you of the potential risks of sharing explicit content and help prevent accidental sends.

Google said this process happens entirely on your phone to maintain privacy and ensure end-to-end encrypted messages remain accessible only to the sender and recipient. The company also clarified that it does not have access to image contents, will not know whether nudity actually has been detected and does not send identifiable data to its servers.

In a post on its website, the company acknowledged that the feature «isn’t perfect,» noting: «It may occasionally detect images that don’t contain nudity or not detect images that contain nudity.»

The feature is opt-in for adults via Android settings and enabled by default (opt-out) for users under 18. It will roll out to Android 9 and above, including Android Go devices, with Google Messages.