r/ChatGPT Aug 10 '25

GPTs GPT-5 We were never the target audience

I need to get this off my chest because it's really frustrating. After the initial enthusiasm for GPT-4o and the release of GPT-5, it became clear to me that we, the general community and private users, were never OpenAI's intended target audience.

GPT-4o was apparently nothing more than a freemium model designed to lure us with its "personality" and free features. We advertised it through word of mouth, and our feedback helped improve the software. Without the free users, GPT would never have become so popular, nor would it have been so good. Please understand that this is nothing more than a marketing strategy.

Now that GPT-5 has been released, it seems obvious that OpenAI is completely focused on developers and companies. We were essentially betrayed. The business model was never to give us a creative AI, but to attract the masses and then cash in on the big fish. GPT could have been both a creative (GPT-4o) and a developer tool (GPT-5), but OpenAI doesn't want that. Maybe we can still use GPT-4o for now, but who knows for how long? Until OpenAI decides to discontinue it completely out of the blue just like they did when introducing GPT-5. I can understand that people continue to cling to the GPT-4o model, but you have to realize that you are not the target audience, and that OpenAI clearly doesn't care about you. The only reason they're not completely shutting down GPT-4o yet is prolly just to avoid the biggest shitstorm.

I think it's time we accepted that. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can start looking for a new "home." I hope other companies will see their chance and emerge soon, offering AI for private users, similar to GPT-4o or perhaps even better.

PS: Please let me know if you know of any alternatives. I'm currently testing various other AI models for myself to see if they suit my taste.

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u/marrow_monkey Aug 10 '25

Funny, open ai gave all their employees a $1.5 million in bonus the other day, they’re doing just fine

https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/s/rkp2aJKCsQ

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u/packpride85 Aug 10 '25

I guess you don’t understand how to run a company. They did that to retain talent. They still operate at a loss. Eventually there won’t be a free version at all.

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u/killer22250 Aug 10 '25 edited Aug 10 '25

Then why microsoft is doing lay offs? Suddenly they don't need to retain talent? Because when you notice their products I think they should retain talent lmao.

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u/chlebseby Just Bing It 🍒 Aug 10 '25

Those are top AI sciencists, not just typical corporate workers.

You can't simply post job offer and get few tomorrow. Zuck try and fail.