The return of GPT-4o comes after what Altman described as OpenAI underestimating "how much some of the things that people like in GPT-4o matter to them." In an attempt to simplify its offerings, OpenAI had initially removed all previous AI models from ChatGPT when GPT-5 launched on August 7,

OpenAI GPT-5 is going to shock the world on Thursday!” That’s a direct quote from a well-regarded developer friend of mine on LinkedIn, two days before the release of GPT-5. “GPT-5: Overdue, overhyped and underwhelming.