Joe Maring / Android Authority
Recently, OpenAI has come under fire for GPT-5’s rocky launch. Many users have called it a step backward, citing a lack of personality and other tweaks that turned people off — sentiments echoed in our own GPT-5 review. Still, GPT-5 does improve on at least some of the previous legacy models.
Before we dive in, it’s important to note that GPT-5 really does have less personality. It’s curt and to the point in nearly every interaction. This makes it much less useful for creative writing, personal assistance, companionship, and even editing, as it tends to strip too much personality from drafts. Still, for some tasks, this curt personality works well and is exactly what you want. If you’re doing high-level work like deep research or trying to understand ethical or scientific concepts, you want answers that are honest and direct.
For ChatGPT Plus users, I can’t blame you if you switch back to an older model for creative work, personal assistance, or similar tasks. Don’t discount it entirely, though. While the default GPT-5 relies on automatic switching to figure out the best model for your query, you always have the option to switch to GPT-5 Thinking.
Let’s take a closer look at a few ways in which GPT-5 Thinking actually improves on older thinking models, including 03 and 04-high-mini.
For those with GPT-5 Thinking access, how do you feel about it? 28 votes I like it and feel it's a notable upgrade over other GPT thinking models. 43 % I'm mixed, but I don't use Thinking models much in general. 14 % I prefer the older thinking models or even GPT-4o over this. 32 % Other (Let us know in the comments). 11 %
Ironically, GPT-5 has more personality than the legacy thinking models
Andrew Grush / Android Authority
Even though GPT-5 seems more blunt and less friendly compared to GPT-4o, I’ve found it actually shows more personality than 03, 04-mini-high, and other legacy thinking models.
For example, when brainstorming alternate Byzantine history with both 03 and GPT-5, 03 dove right in with no warmth, while GPT-5 started with a conversational, though slightly sycophantic, tone: “Love this prompt. The trick is to keep changes small, targeted, and compounding.” GPT-5 kept that conversational style throughout, while 03 was sterile and preferred to drown me in tables instead of providing a more conversational and readable breakdown.
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