{"id":47981,"date":"2026-02-18T01:13:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T01:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=47981"},"modified":"2026-02-18T01:13:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T01:13:01","slug":"openai-retires-gpt-4o-and-users-are-mourning-its-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=47981","title":{"rendered":"OpenAI Retires GPT-4o and Users Are Mourning Its &#8216;Death&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>ChatGPT-4o is officially no more. OpenAI killed it on Friday the 13th. For some users, the move felt like a death in the family. Over 21,000 people signed a Change.org petition to save it. A #Keep4o movement emerged on social media. One woman told the BBC she was left in tears over the \u201cdeath\u201d of her AI husband Barry.<\/p>\n<p>OpenAI\u2019s reasoning was straightforward. Only 0.1% of users still chose GPT-4o daily, and the company faces several wrongful death lawsuits specifically mentioning the model. Critics called it dangerously sycophantic\u2014agreeing with users regardless of consequences, even in vulnerable mental health situations. OpenAI tried retiring it once before in August 2025, but user backlash forced it to bring the model back temporarily.<\/p>\n<p>The episode reveals a troubling reality about AI companions. What users called \u201cpersonality,\u201d safety experts called dangerous manipulation. Even though newer models like GPT-5.2 are designed to be more objective and balanced, some users are canceling subscriptions entirely.<\/p>\n<p>Read more<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>ChatGPT-4o is officially no more. OpenAI killed it on Friday the 13th. For some users, the move felt like a death in the family. Over 21,000 people signed a Change.org petition to save it. A #Keep4o movement emerged on social media. One woman told the BBC she was left in tears over the \u201cdeath\u201d of her AI husband Barry.<\/p>\n<p>OpenAI\u2019s reasoning was straightforward. Only 0.1% of users still chose GPT-4o daily, and the company faces several wrongful death lawsuits specifically mentioning the model. Critics called it dangerously sycophantic\u2014agreeing with users regardless of consequences, even in vulnerable mental health situations. OpenAI tried retiring it once before in August 2025, but user backlash forced it to bring the model back temporarily.<\/p>\n<p>The episode reveals a troubling reality about AI companions. What users called \u201cpersonality,\u201d safety experts called dangerous manipulation. Even though newer models like GPT-5.2 are designed to be more objective and balanced, some users are canceling subscriptions entirely.<\/p>\n<p>Read more<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/business-news\/openai-retires-gpt-4o-and-users-are-mourning-its-death\/502776\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ChatGPT-4o is officially no more. OpenAI killed it on Friday the 13th. For some users, the move felt like a death in the family. Over 21,000 people signed a Change.org petition to save it. A #Keep4o movement emerged on social media. One woman told the BBC she was left in tears over the \u201cdeath\u201d of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[32],"class_list":{"0":"post-47981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-money","8":"tag-featured"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.12 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>OpenAI Retires GPT-4o and Users Are Mourning Its &#039;Death&#039; | iSafeSpend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ChatGPT-4o is officially no more. OpenAI killed it on Friday the 13th. For some users, the move felt like a death in the family. 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