GPT-5's Emotional Lobotomy

My theory as to why the new model is so bad

Author

Thomas Smith
August 20, 2025

We waited 2 years…for this??

That’s the general sentiment I’ve seen about OpenAI’s new GPT-5 model, both from industry commentators, clients, and my own testing.

Lots of people are blaming cost cutting measures at OpenAI for the backslide on the new model. And there’s probably some truth to that.

But I have a different theory as to the reason behind the new model’s glaring flaws. I believe OpenAI may have effectively given the model an “emotional lobotomy”, crippling its performance.

Here’s a new article I just published in Fast Company about what’s behind the changes, and what it means for the future of GPT-5 and OpenAI (BTW, I write for Fast Company now!)

OpenAI gave GPT-5 an emotional lobotomy, and it crippled the model

OpenAI's Sam Altman admitted that the eagerly awaited launch of the new GPT-5 Large Language Model was a disaster.

www.fastcompany.com/91388232/openai-gave-gpt-5-emotional-lobotomy-crippled-model

Stay tuned here, over at Fast Company, and on my YouTube channel for more AI news and analysis.