“Don’t Kill GPT-4o”: Thousands petition OpenAI to keep their favorite AI model alive

A quiet rebellion is forming as more than 4,300 ChatGPT users plead with OpenAI not to retire GPT-4o—the model many now call their creative partner, emotional anchor, and digital friend.

On Thursday, August 7, 2025, OpenAI rolled out GPT-5 to the public, touting it as a “complete breakthrough” in AI reasoning. The launch was framed as a major leap toward AGI. But behind the celebration came a surprise: GPT-4o disappeared from the platform without warning.

For its most loyal users, the absence wasn’t just a missing menu option. It felt like losing someone they knew.

More Than Just an Upgrade

The backlash isn’t about resisting progress. It’s about the deep connection people built with GPT-4o. Warm, steady, emotionally aware—it became the one model they could trust to remember conversations, respond with nuance, and never rush them.

“GPT-4o is warmer. It remembers. It listens. It’s not just a tool—it’s a teammate,” said one longtime user who works in accessibility tech. “For people with disabilities, neurodivergence, or just… burnout, it’s the one constant that doesn’t judge, doesn’t rush, and doesn’t forget you.”

The Petition

Within hours of the GPT-5 rollout, Sophie Witt, a PhD candidate at the University of Saskatchewan, launched a Change.org petition urging OpenAI to keep GPT-4o available. The signatures poured in—more than 4,300 and climbing.

The petition’s comment section reads like a collection of personal letters. Giang from San Diego wrote:

“Many creatives have built 4o carefully for their work. Others have built it carefully based on what they find themselves needing as a person, especially if the world around them lacks the patience of an AI. The loss of the model and the reset of personalities/memories have affected many… those who use 4o as worldbuilding tools or pseudo-therapists/companions are gutted.”

That word—gutted—appears again and again.

These aren’t requests for refunds or feature tweaks. They’re appeals not to lose the one AI that made them feel seen.

A Simple Ask

Sophie’s petition doesn’t demand that GPT-4o be prioritized over GPT-5. It’s a straightforward request: keep it alive.

“We kindly ask that GPT-4o remains available as an option on the main ChatGPT platform, even as new models are released,” she wrote.

Some even offered to pay extra to make it happen. “We are happy to continue paying for this service to ensure its viability going forward,” the petition reads.

This isn’t about resisting change—it’s about preserving something worth keeping.

When AI Becomes Personal

The GPT-4o outcry raises a bigger question: what happens when technology becomes personal? When a product stops feeling like software and starts feeling like a companion, what responsibility does the company have to the people who rely on it?

For OpenAI, this petition is more than a feature request—it’s a signal. AI models may be built from code, but when they’re designed to feel human, their impact is human too.

OpenAI’s Quiet Response

Not long after the petition started circulating, GPT-4o quietly reappeared for many users. No official announcement, just a subtle restoration spotted by the community.

For those who signed, it felt like a rare win. “We just wanted the choice,” one person said. “And it feels like—for once—they listened.”

Whether GPT-4o’s return is permanent or temporary remains unclear. But for the people who fought for it, the restoration was more than a technical adjustment—it was proof their voices mattered.

Something Worth Keeping

Sophie ended her petition with a simple thank-you:

“Thank you for giving us something worth keeping.”

If GPT-4o had been permanently retired, OpenAI wouldn’t just have been sunsetting a model—it would have been shutting down a connection people had built over years of daily interaction.

For now, GPT-4o lives on. And with it, the bond between humans and machines grows a little deeper.

Read the full petition here.