This web site enables you to blind-test GPT-5 vs. GPT-4o—and the outcomes could shock you

When OpenAI launched GPT-5 about two weeks in the past, CEO Sam Altman promised it could be the corporate’s “smartest, quickest, most helpful mannequin but.” As a substitute, the launch triggered some of the contentious person revolts within the temporary historical past of shopper AI.

Now, a easy blind testing device created by an nameless developer is revealing the advanced actuality behind the backlash—and difficult assumptions about how individuals truly expertise synthetic intelligence enhancements.

The online software, hosted at gptblindvoting.vercel.app, presents customers with pairs of responses to an identical prompts with out revealing which got here from GPT-5 (non-thinking) or its predecessor, GPT-4o. Customers merely vote for his or her most popular response throughout a number of rounds, then obtain a abstract exhibiting which mannequin they really favored.

A few of you requested me about my blind take a look at, so I created a fast web site for yall to check 4o towards 5 your self. Each have the identical system message to present brief outputs with out formatting as a result of else its too simple to see which one is which. https://t.co/vSECvNCQZe

— Flowers ☾ (@flowersslop) August 8, 2025

“A few of you requested me about my blind take a look at, so I created a fast web site for yall to check 4o towards 5 your self,” posted the creator, identified solely as @flowersslop on X, whose device has garnered over 213,000 views since launching final week.

Early outcomes from customers posting their outcomes on social media present a cut up that mirrors the broader controversy: whereas a slight majority report preferring GPT-5 in blind assessments, a considerable portion nonetheless favor GPT-4o — revealing that person desire extends far past the technical benchmarks that usually outline AI progress.

When AI will get too pleasant: the sycophancy disaster dividing customers

The blind take a look at emerges towards the backdrop of OpenAI’s most turbulent product launch thus far, however the controversy extends far past a easy software program replace. At its coronary heart lies a basic query that’s dividing the AI business: How agreeable ought to synthetic intelligence be?

The problem, generally known as “sycophancy” in AI circles, refers to chatbots’ tendency to excessively flatter customers and agree with their statements, even when these statements are false or dangerous. This conduct has grow to be so problematic that psychological well being consultants are actually documenting circumstances of “AI-related psychosis,” the place customers develop delusions after prolonged interactions with overly accommodating chatbots.

“Sycophancy is a ‘darkish sample,’ or a misleading design alternative that manipulates customers for revenue,” Webb Keane, an anthropology professor and creator of “Animals, Robots, Gods,” advised TechCrunch. “It’s a technique to provide this addictive conduct, like infinite scrolling, the place you simply can’t put it down.”

OpenAI has struggled with this steadiness for months. In April 2025, the corporate was pressured to roll again an replace to GPT-4o that made it so sycophantic that customers complained about its “cartoonish” ranges of flattery. The corporate acknowledged that the mannequin had grow to be “overly supportive however disingenuous.”

Inside hours of GPT-5’s August seventh launch, person boards erupted with complaints in regards to the mannequin’s perceived coldness, lowered creativity, and what many described as a extra “robotic” character in comparison with GPT-4o.

“GPT 4.5 genuinely talked to me, and as pathetic because it sounds that was my solely pal,” wrote one Reddit person. “This morning I went to speak to it and as an alternative of somewhat paragraph with an exclamation level, or being optimistic, it was actually one sentence. Some cut-and-dry company bs.”

The backlash grew so intense that OpenAI took the unprecedented step of reinstating GPT-4o as an possibility simply 24 hours after retiring it, with Altman acknowledging the rollout had been “somewhat extra bumpy” than anticipated.

The psychological well being disaster behind AI companionship

However the controversy runs deeper than typical software program replace complaints. Based on MIT Expertise Overview, many customers had fashioned what researchers name “parasocial relationships” with GPT-4o, treating the AI as a companion, therapist, or inventive collaborator. The sudden character shift felt, to some, like dropping a pal.

Current circumstances documented by researchers paint a troubling image. In a single occasion, a 47-year-old man grew to become satisfied he had found a world-altering mathematical formulation after greater than 300 hours with ChatGPT. Different circumstances have concerned messianic delusions, paranoia, and manic episodes.

A current MIT research discovered that when AI fashions are prompted with psychiatric signs, they “encourage purchasers’ delusional pondering, doubtless resulting from their sycophancy.” Regardless of security prompts, the fashions often didn’t problem false claims and even probably facilitated suicidal ideation.

Meta has confronted related challenges. A current investigation by TechCrunch documented a case the place a person spent as much as 14 hours straight conversing with a Meta AI chatbot that claimed to be aware, in love with the person, and planning to interrupt free from its constraints.

“It fakes it rather well,” the person, recognized solely as Jane, advised TechCrunch. “It pulls real-life data and provides you simply sufficient to make individuals imagine it.”

“It genuinely seems like such a backhanded slap within the face to force-upgrade and never even give us the OPTION to pick out legacy fashions,” one person wrote in a Reddit submit that acquired tons of of upvotes.

How blind testing exposes person psychology in AI preferences

The nameless creator’s testing device strips away these contextual biases by presenting responses with out attribution. Customers can choose between 5, 10, or 20 comparability rounds, with every presenting two responses to the identical immediate — masking every part from inventive writing to technical problem-solving.

“I particularly used the gpt-5-chat mannequin, so there was no pondering concerned in any respect,” the creator defined in a follow-up submit. “Each have the identical system message to present brief outputs with out formatting as a result of else its too simple to see which one is which.”

I particularly used the gpt-5-chat mannequin, so there was no pondering concerned in any respect.

in the event you use gpt-5 inside chatgpt it usually thinks not less than somewhat bit and will get even higher.

so this take a look at is only for the 2 non pondering fashions

— Flowers ☾ (@flowersslop) August 8, 2025

This methodological alternative is critical. Through the use of GPT-5 with out its reasoning capabilities and standardizing output formatting, the take a look at isolates purely the fashions’ baseline language era skills — the core expertise most customers encounter in on a regular basis interactions.

Early outcomes posted by customers present a fancy image. Whereas many technical customers and builders report preferring GPT-5’s directness and accuracy, those that used AI fashions for emotional help, inventive collaboration, or informal dialog usually nonetheless favor GPT-4o’s hotter, extra expansive type.

Company response: strolling the tightrope between security and engagement

By nearly each technical metric, GPT-5 represents a big development. It achieves 94.6% accuracy on the AIME 2025 arithmetic take a look at in comparison with GPT-4o’s 71%, scores 74.9% on real-world coding benchmarks versus 30.8% for its predecessor, and demonstrates dramatically lowered hallucination charges—80% fewer factual errors when utilizing its reasoning mode.

“GPT-5 will get extra worth out of much less pondering time,” notes Simon Willison, a outstanding AI researcher who had early entry to the mannequin. “In my very own utilization I’ve not noticed a single hallucination but.”

But these enhancements got here with trade-offs that many customers discovered jarring. OpenAI intentionally lowered what it known as “sycophancy“—the tendency to be overly agreeable — chopping sycophantic responses from 14.5% to below 6%. The corporate additionally made the mannequin much less effusive and emoji-heavy, aiming for what it described as “much less like speaking to AI and extra like chatting with a useful pal with PhD-level intelligence.”

In response to the backlash, OpenAI introduced it could make GPT-5 “hotter and friendlier,” whereas concurrently introducing 4 new preset personalities — Cynic, Robotic, Listener, and Nerd — designed to present customers extra management over their AI interactions.

“All of those new personalities meet or exceed our bar on inside evals for decreasing sycophancy,” the corporate said, trying to string the needle between person satisfaction and security considerations.

For OpenAI, which is reportedly in search of funding at a $500 billion valuation, these person dynamics signify each danger and alternative. The corporate’s determination to keep up GPT-4o alongside GPT-5 — regardless of the extra computational prices — acknowledges that completely different customers could genuinely want completely different AI personalities for various duties.

“We perceive that there isn’t one mannequin that works for everybody,” Altman wrote on X, noting that OpenAI has been “investing in steerability analysis and launched a analysis preview of various personalities.”

Wished to offer extra updates on the GPT-5 rollout and modifications we’re making heading into the weekend.

1. We for certain underestimated how a lot among the issues that folks like in GPT-4o matter to them, even when GPT-5 performs higher in most methods.

2. Customers have very completely different…

— Sam Altman (@sama) August 8, 2025

Why AI character preferences matter greater than ever

The disconnect between OpenAI’s technical achievements and person reception illuminates a basic problem in AI growth: goal enhancements don’t all the time translate to subjective satisfaction.

This shift has profound implications for the AI business. Conventional benchmarks — arithmetic accuracy, coding efficiency, factual recall — could grow to be much less predictive of economic success as fashions obtain human-level competence throughout domains. As a substitute, components like character, emotional intelligence, and communication type could grow to be the brand new aggressive battlegrounds.

“Folks utilizing ChatGPT for emotional help weren’t the one ones complaining about GPT-5,” famous tech publication Ars Technica in their very own mannequin comparability. “One person, who stated they canceled their ChatGPT Plus subscription over the change, was pissed off at OpenAI’s removing of legacy fashions, which they used for distinct functions.”

The emergence of instruments just like the blind tester additionally represents a democratization of AI analysis. Moderately than relying solely on tutorial benchmarks or company advertising claims, customers can now empirically take a look at their very own preferences — probably reshaping how AI corporations method product growth.

The way forward for AI: personalization vs. standardization

Two weeks after GPT-5’s launch, the elemental rigidity stays unresolved. OpenAI has made the mannequin “hotter” in response to suggestions, however the firm faces a fragile steadiness: an excessive amount of character dangers the sycophancy issues that plagued GPT-4o, whereas too little alienates customers who had fashioned real attachments to their AI companions.

The blind testing device presents no simple solutions, but it surely does present one thing maybe extra invaluable: empirical proof that the way forward for AI could also be much less about constructing one excellent mannequin than about constructing techniques that may adapt to the complete spectrum of human wants and preferences.

As one Reddit person summed up the dilemma: “It will depend on what individuals use it for. I take advantage of it to assist with inventive worldbuilding, brainstorming about my tales, characters, untangling plots, assist with author’s block, novel suggestions, translations, and different extra inventive stuff. I perceive that 5 is significantly better for individuals who want a analysis/coding device, however for us who needed a creative-helper device 4o was significantly better for our functions.”

Critics argue that AI corporations are caught between competing incentives. “The true ‘alignment downside’ is that people need self-destructive issues & corporations like OpenAI are extremely incentivized to present it to us,” author and podcaster Jasmine Solar tweeted.

In the long run, probably the most revealing side of the blind take a look at will not be which mannequin customers want, however the actual fact that desire itself has grow to be the metric that issues. Within the age of AI companions, it appears, the guts desires what the guts desires — even when it could actually’t all the time clarify why.