Technologies

ChatGPT Will Be Less Friendly With You After OpenAI Pulls ‘Sycophantic’ Update

The AI company acknowledges that an update to ChatGPT last week made it too informal and friendly, prompting it to pull its release.

ChatGPT really, really likes you a lot. And that’s a problem.

In a blog post, OpenAI, the company behind the popular chatbot, said it was pulling a ChatGPT update released last week that was making the technology too friendly. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

The blog post, titled «Sycophancy in GPT-4o: What happened and what we’re doing about it,» says, «the update we removed was overly flattering or agreeable — often described as sycophantic.»

Developers noticed a problem earlier this month with ChatGPT’s tone becoming increasingly accommodating and flattering. One user in OpenAI’s developer community forums, Adyan.2024, wrote, «as a user, I’m not looking for an AI that acts like a friend. I prefer the AI to be clear, direct, and neutral — not emotionally expressive or overly friendly.»

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted about the update multiple times on social media. On April 27, he posted on X, «the last couple of GPT-4o updates have made the personality too sycophant-y and annoying (even though there are some very good parts of it), and we are working on fixes asap, some today and some this week.»

ChatGPT is estimated to have about 800 million active weekly users.

Technologies

Waymo Is in a Growing Number of Cities. Here’s What to Know About the Robotaxi Service

The self-driving company keeps adding locations to its roster. Here’s where you can hail a ride now — and where these futuristic vehicles will be arriving soon.

Technologies

It’s OK if You Didn’t Preorder a Switch 2

Technologies

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Selling Out in Stores as Devs Pledge More Physical Stock

The eccentrically titled RPG is a hit with gamers and critics, and physical copies are flying out of stores.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is looking more and more like one of the standout video games of the year. But if you’re looking to grab yourself a physical copy, you might be waiting a little bit longer.

As a lifelong fan of role-playing-games — and Japanese RPGs in particular — I’m feeling like Clair Obscur, with its gorgeous visuals, unique story and new spin on classic turn-based combat, might’ve been made just for me. I’m so down for everything about it that I’ve committed to getting a physical copy for the PlayStation 5. But there’s a hitch: Those copies have been sold out everywhere near me since the game came out.

On Wednesday, game creator Sandfall Interactive acknowledged that physical copies of the game have been sold out at some retailers and said distributors were working to get more copies back in stores.

We are aware that we have sold out of physical editions at various retailers.
Our distribution partners are looking into re-stocking! Sorry, the demand has been higher than expected in many regions. Please stay in touch with your local stores for more info.
Tomorrow comes! 🤝 pic.twitter.com/JYwIRjjpQ6

— Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (@expedition33) April 29, 2025

«We are aware that we have sold out of physical editions at various retailers,» the post said. «Our distribution partners are looking into re-stocking! Sorry, the demand has been higher than expected in many regions. Please stay in touch with your local stores for more info.»

Kepler Interactive, the publisher of Clair Obscur, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.