News Analysis
The Gist
- Innovation without empathy is costly. OpenAI’s rollout of ChatGPT-5 removed user choice and sparked backlash—reminding us that tech upgrades must be matched with thoughtful customer experience planning.
- Customers crave familiarity and control. Removing GPT-4o without notice disrupted workflows and emotional bonds, leading to public outcry and comparisons to the infamous New Coke debacle.
- Change management must prioritize trust. Offering users a choice during transitions—rather than forcing them into a single option—can prevent churn, preserve loyalty and turn change into a strategic advantage.
OpenAI gets AI. It failed miserably at CX.
No matter how good these large language models like OpenAI's baby ChatGPT get, customer experience will always matter. Always.
The creators of the world-changing artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT rolled out its latest version, ChatGPT-5, on Aug. 7. Best AI system yet as OpenAI claimed? Maybe. To be determined.
Best customer experience around the rollout? That is determined. And no, it's not even close. Chalk this up to one of the top recent CX fails from the world's top brands.
And the backlash was immediate: With the release of ChatGPT-5, OpenAI wiped out the other versions all together. ChatGPT-4o? Gone. ChatGPT-4o mini? Gone. At least for a few hours anyway.
It was ChatGPT-5 or bust for all many users last Thursday. Talk about channel-forcing, product-pigeon-holing or whatever you want to call it. OpenAI eliminated choice for its customers. They were stuck on LLM Island without a ferry in sight. And OpenAI paid for it with a costly customer experience bill.
Table of Contents
- The Customer Loyalty Breakdown: Change Management Examined
- OpenAI Support Ticket: Bring Back 4o!
- Is OpenAI's ChatGPT-5 CX Gaffe the New Coke CX Gaffe?
- OpenAI’s Response: OK, We'll Bring Back ChatGPT-4o
- Why Change Management Needs a Customer Lens
- Give Customers a Choice or Risk Losing Their Trust
The Customer Loyalty Breakdown: Change Management Examined
The worst part? It didn’t seem like No. 5 was working great.
So we not only had a company forcing customers into one specific model, it forced many of them into a bad model.
The calls for #BringBackGPT4o came quick.
Support ticket requests from upset customers were published. Here’s a summary of one:
@sama @OpenAI
— Atou🌊@keep4o！ (@BlinkPerfume) August 8, 2025
Removing GPT-4o w/o choice = mistake. 4o’s warmth & balance kept millions. GPT-5’s router is a downgrade: shorter, colder, opaque. If Pro can “Show legacy models”, Plus should too. Restore choice. #BringBackGPT4o #chatgpt4o #ChatGPT5 #OpenAI#keep4o #forever4o pic.twitter.com/UfGNSsVnmx
OpenAI Support Ticket: Bring Back 4o!
Here's breakdown of that support ticket, likely a common support inbox arrival for OpenAI over the weekend:
Preserve Long-Term User Trust
- GPT-4o’s unique personality, adaptability and emotional intelligence are highly valued by long-term users.
- Removing access risks alienating both personal and professional users who have built daily workflows and emotional rapport around it.
Facilitate a Smoother Transition to GPT-5
- Offering GPT-4o alongside GPT-5 allows users to adapt at their own pace while exploring new features.
- This reduces disruption and maintains continuity in style and capabilities.
Respect Diversity of User Needs
- A unified model can still offer selectable behavioral profiles for different conversational styles.
- Such flexibility would meet functional and relational needs without stalling progress.
Address Perceived Unfair Model Access Restrictions
- Pro users reportedly can still select “legacy models” like GPT-4o, but Plus users cannot.
- If technically possible, this should be extended to all paying users to prevent perceptions of unfairness and reduce churn.
Proposed Action
- Restore GPT-4o as a selectable option for all paying users alongside GPT-5.
- Preserve its expressive depth, nuanced tone and adaptability.
- Maintain qualities that foster loyalty, trust, and productivity.
Framing
- The request is not resisting progress but ensuring that established user connections and workflows are not lost.
- GPT-4o’s traits are positioned as differentiators, not “legacy quirks.”
Roi Krakovski, co-founder and CEO of Usearch, wrote in a LinkedIn post, "My experience with ChatGPT-5 has been terrible — it should be rolled back to 4o. If you are blindly switching models in your product, it means you have no benchmarks, no accuracy checks, no regulation, and no meaningful metrics in place."
Related Article: What Is ChatGPT? Everything You Need to Know
Is OpenAI's ChatGPT-5 CX Gaffe the New Coke CX Gaffe?
Frank Shines, a processing engineering and generative AI advisor for Turnberry Solutions, wrote in a LinkedIn post that OpenAI has had its Coke moment. In 1985, Coca-Cola brought back "Coke Classic" after consumer backlash, he notes.
"The lesson? Never underestimate human attachment to something 'imperfect' but familiar," Shines wrote. "Whether it's Coke or ChatGPT, users don't always want optimal—they want what feels like home."
Dr. Alan Barnard, CEO of Goldratt Research Labs, also channeled 1980s Coke and CX in his own LinkedIn post, saying, "In 1985, after extensive focus groups and taste tests, Coca-Cola launched New Coke — convinced it would be a big hit. But they made one critical mistake…They didn’t realize that the love people had for the original Coke wasn’t just about taste. It was about trust, connection, and familiarity. The backlash was so intense that Coca-Cola had to bring back Classic Coke within months."
He continued, "... I can’t help but wonder if OpenAI might be on the verge of a similar 'Classic Coke' moment with the release of ChatGPT 5 — especially because they removed the option to still use ChatGPT 4o. I have been testing ChatGPT 5 the past few days. Its technical capability are super impressive...But, to be honest, I miss ChatGPT 4o’s personality, its warmth, and uniquely supportive, curious, and empathetic conversational style. ... Should OpenAI have kept the option to use ChatGPT 4o or (better), allow users to adjust ChatGPT 5's conversational style to be more like ChatGPT 4o?"
Related Article: OpenAI Is an App Company NowOpenAI’s Response: OK, We'll Bring Back ChatGPT-4o
It wasn’t long before OpenAI listened to the herd and rolled back an earlier model of its LLM bot.
In a post on X Aug. 9, two days after the ChatGPT-5 rollout, OpenAI, confirming it made 4o available only to Pro users at first, said:
“GPT-4o is now also available to Plus and Team users. To use it across platforms, go to settings on ChatGPT web and toggle on ‘show legacy models.’”
A day before, OpenAI CEO and founder Sam Altman said on X, “We for sure underestimated how much some of the things that people like in GPT-4o matter to them, even if GPT-5 performs better in most ways. Users have very different opinions on the relative strength of GPT-4o vs GPT-5 (just the chat model, not the advanced reasoning one)."
In the long run, Altman noted this experience has made it clear that people want to tailor their AI interactions—and that one-size-fits-all models just don’t work.
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That’s why OpenAI's been investing in steerability research and testing different personality styles. Some users love emojis, while others can’t stand them. Some prefer cold logic, while others want emotional nuance and warmth. OpenAI believes it can deliver much more personalization while still supporting healthy use, according to Altman.
"The team is doing heroic work to optimize our systems and find more capacity, but still, we are looking at a severe capacity challenge for next week," Altman said a day before OpenAI officially brought back ChatGPT-4o to Plus and Team users. "We are still deciding what we are going to do, but we will be transparent with our principles. Not everyone will like whatever tradeoffs we end up with, obviously, but at least we will explain how we are making decisions. Thanks for your patience with us; we will continue to react and improve quickly!"
Customer Experience Fails: What Went Wrong?
This table outlines real-world customer experience missteps from leading brands, showing what happened and where to learn more. Use these cautionary tales to avoid similar pitfalls in your CX strategy.
| Fail | What Happened |
|---|---|
| United Airlines – “United Breaks Guitars” | Musician Dave Carroll’s $3,500 guitar was damaged by United baggage handlers. After nine months of failed resolutions, he released a viral song that caused reputational damage and stock impact. |
| British Airways – Ignoring a Customer's Tweet | A customer paid to promote a tweet criticizing British Airways for losing his father's luggage. The airline took hours to respond, showing poor social listening and responsiveness. |
| Comcast – The Infamous Cancellation Call | A customer recorded a grueling call where a Comcast agent aggressively refused to cancel service. The audio went viral and exposed toxic support practices. |
| Spirit Airlines – No Refund During Family Emergency | Spirit denied a refund to a grieving customer who canceled a flight due to a family member’s death, sparking public outrage over insensitivity and rigid policies. |
| Apple – Genius Bar Miscommunication | A customer’s Genius Bar appointment was mishandled, and the service rep treated the customer rudely when asked for clarification, highlighting breakdowns in CX training. |
| Sonos – App Redesign Backlash | Sonos released a major app update in May 2024 that removed core features like alarms, search and playlist editing. It alienated loyal users, triggered thousands of negative reviews, and led to a 25% stock drop. |
| Sonos – CEO’s Defensive Response | Instead of issuing an apology, the CEO cited “temporary gaps” and told users to wait for future updates. The tone-deaf response deepened customer frustration and eroded trust. |
| OpenAI – GPT-5 Launch and 4o Removal Backlash | On Aug. 7, 2025, OpenAI launched GPT-5 with a unified routing system but removed direct access to GPT-4o for many users. The removal sparked backlash from loyal users who had built workflows and emotional rapport around GPT-4o’s conversational style, forcing OpenAI to reinstate it days later. |
Why Change Management Needs a Customer Lens
Innovation is inevitable. Disruption doesn't have to be. As companies rush to evolve products, platforms and services, many overlook the toll that poorly managed change takes on customer trust and brand equity. We'll now explore how communication, structure, psychology and empathy can turn disruptive transitions into moments that strengthen—not sabotage—customer experience.
Change Management: Balancing Innovation & Customer Experience
Organizations face mounting pressure to innovate while maintaining customer satisfaction during product and service transitions. Effective change management requires strategic communication and structured approaches to minimize disruption.
Communication as Foundation
Clear, proactive communication forms the backbone of successful change management initiatives. Companies must set realistic expectations and maintain transparency throughout rollout processes to reduce customer dissatisfaction. Frequent experimentation can create disruption without proper management frameworks that prioritize empathy and customer feedback loops.
Structured Frameworks Drive Success
Established methodologies like the Kotter 8 Step Process and ADKAR model provide organizational structure for change initiatives. However, success depends on adapting these frameworks to specific organizational cultures and change requirements.
Companies benefit from identifying and empowering change champions within stakeholder groups. These advocates foster peer support, accelerate adoption and address issues during implementation—particularly valuable during major digital platform deployments.
Feedback Loops Build Trust
Organizations that create genuine feedback channels and demonstrate willingness to adapt build stronger customer relationships. Apple's ongoing battery life improvements across devices exemplify commitment to customer-driven enhancement.
Cross-departmental knowledge sharing and frontline employee empowerment through training and autonomy enhance customer experiences during transition periods.
Psychology Meets Process
Targeted reminders, reconfigured decision environments and immediate feedback help customers and employees abandon old habits. Change management success relies equally on psychological understanding and cultural adaptation as on process implementation.
The most effective strategies treat customers as active participants rather than passive recipients in their transformation journey. If you can make them smile along the way, you’re already halfway there.
Related Article: Building Customer Trust — Statistics in the US for 2025
Give Customers a Choice or Risk Losing Their Trust
OpenAI’s recent rollout of GPT-5 offers a clear example of how forced innovation—no matter how well-intentioned—can erode user trust when not managed with empathy and optionality.
Users like Brian Chandler, managing director of Zab Translation Solutions, voiced frustration after losing access to GPT-4o, citing performance issues, wasted time and lack of choice. He wasn't alone, and it could have been easily avoided.
OpenAI eventually reinstated GPT-4o due to user backlash, but the damage to goodwill was already underway. The takeaway for any organization leading change? Innovation should feel like an upgrade, not an ultimatum. Giving customers the power to choose—even during transitions—fosters trust, reduces churn and turns resistance into advocacy.
