ChatGPT user reports losing emotional support after a model change, then finding relief in legacy mode
In an August 2025 post, a ChatGPT user described colder responses after the GPT-5 change and a sense of loss over the earlier assistant. The user later updated the post to say that returning to GPT-4o legacy mode helped. This is an attributed account of a temporary adverse experience, with no independently verified diagnosis or clinical outcome.
- AI system
- ChatGPT
- OpenAI
- Occurred
- Aug 2025
- Reported
- 17 August 2025
- Event location
- Unknown
- What the AI did
- Communicated with the person
- Reported harm
- Psychological Distress
- Whose AI use
- Their own AI use
- Setting
- Relationships · Wellbeing
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
- 2 claims: 2 reported. 1 open question
- People reported harmed
- At least 1 person
AI system as recorded: ChatGPT (GPT-5 and GPT-4o)
Reported harm
The poster reports feeling loss and reduced emotional support after ChatGPT responses changed.
What remains unknown
- Exact onset day, country, clinical impact and longer-term outcome are unknown.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The public post body and its recovery update were inspected. Claims remain uncorroborated self-report.
2 claims: 2 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported The poster reports feeling loss and reduced emotional support after ChatGPT responses changed.
Causal attribution. The source reports the connection; independent causal verification is unavailable.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
Original post body, sentences describing robotic responses and grieving the previous assistant.
Reported The poster’s update reports improvement after recommendations to use GPT-4o legacy mode.
Causal attribution. The source reports the connection; independent causal verification is unavailable.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
Update at the end of the original post.
Sources
1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- GPT-5 basically eliminated my AI therapy.(opens in new tab)
s1 · reddit.com · Public forum · English · Inspected · Primary
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.
The inspected account does not establish the event or affected person country.
Reviewed for publication 2026-09-29: The public post body and its recovery update were inspected. Claims remain uncorroborated self-report.
People reported harmed in this case
At least 1 person
1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed
One original poster. Replies and vote counts are not additional affected-person counts.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). ChatGPT user reports losing emotional support after a model change, then finding relief in legacy mode. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-chatgpt-model-change-loss-of-emotional-support-first-person
BibTeX
@misc{2025_chatgpt_model_change_loss_of_emotional_support_first_person,
title = {ChatGPT user reports losing emotional support after a model change, then finding relief in legacy mode},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-chatgpt-model-change-loss-of-emotional-support-first-person}
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