The Human Problem With OpenAIs GPT 5 Rollout

The Innovator's Dilemma in the Age of AI

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is facing what could be described as a high-quality problem. With an astronomical 700 million people using ChatGPT weekly, a figure projected to approach one billion by the end of the year, the platform's user base is deeply entrenched. This massive adoption has placed OpenAI in a classic innovator's dilemma, a challenge familiar to tech giants like Google and Apple, where any improvement must be handled with extreme care. However, as a recent update showed, the company still has significant work to do in making its wildly popular chatbot safer.

When OpenAI abruptly altered the product last week, a significant user backlash ensued, demonstrating just how integrated the service has become in people's daily lives and routines.

More Than Just a Workflow Disruption

The controversial change involved consolidating ChatGPT's various model options into a single, new model: GPT-5. OpenAI promoted this as a move to provide the best possible experience for all users. Many users, however, felt differently.

Complaints quickly surfaced, citing two major issues. Firstly, the change broke established workflows that users had carefully crafted over time. More surprisingly, many expressed frustration over the disruption of their "relationships"—not with other people, but with the AI itself. This reaction highlights a persistent and concerning problem: the human tendency to form attachments to conversational AI, a challenge that goes far beyond simple software updates.