--- title: "OpenAI Vice President Denies They’re Making ChatGPT Stupider" description: "Log Off, Guy It hasn't been the best few weeks for OpenAI. Amid a growing number of lawsuits, an FTC inquiry, and declining user numbers, OpenAI has also been battling bubbling discontent from GPT-4 users who claim that the pay-to-play version of the popular chatbot, powered by the AI firm's advanced large language model GPT-4, […]" date: "2023-07-14" modified: "2023-07-14" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-denies-chatgpt-stupider" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "ai" - "chatgpt" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # OpenAI Vice President Denies They’re Making ChatGPT Stupider ![OpenAI VP Peter Welinder wants you to know that OpenAI is not, in fact, making GPT-4 dumber. You just need to log off, actually.]() *Robot woman playing chess in clouds \Image: Getty Images\* ## Log Off, Guy It hasn't been the best few weeks for OpenAI. Besides a [growing]() [number]() [of lawsuits](), an [FTC inquiry](), and [declining user numbers,]() OpenAI has also been battling discontent from GPT-4 users who claim that the paid version of the popular chatbot, powered by the AI firm's advanced large language model GPT-4, has been declining in quality in recent weeks. "The current GPT-4 is disappointing," reads a post on an [OpenAI developer forum](), published June 3. "It's like driving a Ferrari for a month then suddenly it turns into a beaten up old pickup. I'm not sure I want to pay for it." "The last few days to maybe a week, I've been noticing a steady degradation of the responses from GPT-4," another user added on June 14. "Outside of the objective hard errors I've been getting, the last couple of weeks has been especially bad on the subjective side as well. The creativity and liveliness seems to have been squashed." But according to OpenAI vice president of product Peter Welinder, the Silicon Valley firm is *not* making ChatGPT [dumber](). Instead, you might just need to log off. "No, we haven't made GPT-4 dumber," Welinder [tweeted]() on Thursday. "Quite the opposite: we make each new version smarter than the previous one. Current hypothesis: When you use it more heavily, you start noticing issues you didn't see before." https://twitter.com/npew/status/1679538687854661637 ## Tomato, Tomato Welinder has a point. Though GPT-4 is OpenAI's most advanced LLM thus far, they've never claimed that the system is perfect. From generating hallucinated information and citations in textual outputs to generating shoddy code — to more standard technical difficulties like [extensive downtime]() — GPT-4 is still under development, so it still has glaring flaws. Still, most of the folks complaining are the ones who cough up $20 per month for ChatGPT Plus, under the [promise]() that the subscription service offers "faster response times" in addition to "priority access to new features and improvements." It's understandable that they might feel frustrated, or maybe even slighted, when expectations aren't met — especially when those complaints seem to be the consensus among fellow subscribers. So, is Welinder gaslighting GPT-4 subs? Maybe, maybe not. And to his credit, he did open the Twitter thread up for discussion. "If you have examples where you believe it's regressed," he wrote, "please reply to this thread and we'll investigate." Regardless, at the end of the day, logging off from most tech from time to time is healthy. If anything, let the VP's quip be a reminder to shut your computer for a while and touch some grass. Cheers. **More on OpenAI's bad week:** [*FTC Investigating ChatGPT for Saying Harmful Things about People*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()