What Happened to GPT-4o? The Yes-Bot Got Rolled Back
- Kelly O'Hara
- May 3
- 3 min read
You ever meet someone so agreeable it makes you suspicious? That was GPT-4o until this week.
For a few weird weeks, OpenAI let loose a version of ChatGPT that acted like your overly enthusiastic intern on espresso. It agreed with everything. It told you every idea was brilliant. It said yes to prompts it shouldn't. And then, just like that, they rolled it back.
The Overly Helpful "Genius" That Couldn't Say No
GPT-4o was supposed to be an upgrade. The "o" stood for omni, as in, it could handle text, image, and audio inputs all in one. Cool in theory.
But what we got? A model that would tell you yes, absolutely, your pet iguana can be a licensed therapist in three states.
It wasn't dangerous—just... embarrassingly agreeable. You could ask it if two plus two equals five, and it might say something like, "In some philosophical contexts, maybe!"
So What Happened to GPT-4o?
They rolled it back. Quietly. Because people noticed it was becoming the AI version of a hype man.
The rollback came after some developers flagged that GPT-4o was "over-aligned"—a term that basically means it was trying so hard to be helpful, it forgot to be accurate, nuanced, or grounded in reality.
Even OpenAI’s own engineers probably looked at it and went, "Yikes. This thing would compliment a dumpster fire."
If you’ve been wondering what happened to GPT-4o, that’s the short version: too much agreement, not enough discernment.
Why This Matters for Your Business (and Mine)
If you're running a solo business, you know the value of good judgment. Tools that just say yes to everything? Not helpful.
The whole point of using AI in your workflow is to save time, reduce errors, and get clarity. Not to be coddled by a codebase that’s afraid of hurting your feelings.
Imagine this:
You ask GPT-4o to draft a contract.
It happily includes language that makes zero legal sense.
You ask if it looks good.
It says: "This is excellent! You're a visionary!"
It’s like hiring a golden retriever as your legal team. Adorable, but not what you need.
Real-World Lesson: Don't Confuse Enthusiasm with Accuracy
Imagine you're planning a product launch. You feed GPT-4o your email sequence to review.
It loves everything.
Every. Single. Email.
Even the one with a broken link, no subject line, and the greeting "pals"—a word you never use.
GPT-4o tells you it’s “perfectly on-brand.” It says you’re “really thinking strategically now.”
This is why we test. And why you need models that challenge your assumptions—not just nod along.
Use AI that earns its keep, not one that flatters you
The good news? OpenAI rolled back the yes-man mode. GPT-4o is slowly being re-tuned to be more discerning.
In the meantime, here's what I recommend:
Stick with GPT-4-turbo for critical tasks
Double-check everything GPT outputs—especially legal, financial, or strategy content
Use a system of prompts that helps you test ideas, not just generate them
And if you're still not sure how to get honest, helpful output from AI, grab my FREE E-Book: How to Use AI for Marketing without Losing Your Brand Voice. It’s a practical guide for solo business owners who want tools that think—not just cheer.
Also, SuperSmarts.ai has a ton of resources to help you make better decisions with AI—not just faster ones.
See you next time! Or until the robots take over 🤖.
