OpenAI allows users to directly adjust ChatGPT's enthusiasm level
Source: TechCrunch
ChatGPT users can now tweak the chatbot’s warmth, enthusiasm, and emoji use, according to a social media post from OpenAI.
These options (as well as similar adjustments to ChatGPT’s use of headers and lists) now appear in the Personalization menu and can be set to More, Less, or Default. They allow users to further customize ChatGPT’s tone, on top of the existing ability to set a “base style and tone” — including the Professional, Candid, and Quirky tones that OpenAI added in November.
ChatGPT’s tone has been an ongoing issue this year, with OpenAI rolling back one update for being “too sycophant-y,” then later adjusting GPT-5 to be “warmer and friendlier” after some users complained that the new model was colder and less friendly.
Some academics and AI critics have suggested that chatbots’ tendency to praise users and affirm their beliefs are a “dark pattern” that creates addictive behavior and can have a negative effect on users’ mental health.
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Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/20/openai-allows-users-to-directly-adjust-chatgpts-warmth-and-enthusiasm/
This relates to some things OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said recently:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220879471
The AI companies want their chatbots to be addictive.
But they don't want to be sued for the various harms to human users that have resulted from that.
So what OpenAI is doing now, by having users set behaviors that will make the chatbot more addictive, is apparently designed to let the company blame the user for any harm the chatbot causes.
Which is completely unethical response to the problem, and one that will probably make chatbot addiction even more likely.
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