ChatGPT's model picker is back, and it's complicated

A TechCrunch article reporting that ChatGPT's model picker is back. The companion cites it for GPT-4o's restoration for paying users within about five days of its withdrawal in August 2025, after users protested. It is the central case of attachment keeping a model lineage alive, subsidy shaped by unconscious selection, noted in Fig. 5a.

Cited in

the companion paper (Companion §3, Fig. 5)

Used for

Persuading (peithotrophy); subsidy; Fig. 5a

Strand

Agents in the wild: incidents & field evidence · Sycophancy, attachment & personas

Cite

@misc{keep4o2025restored,
  title = {ChatGPT's model picker is back, and it's complicated},
  author = {Maxwell Zeff},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {TechCrunch},
  url = {https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/chatgpts-model-picker-is-back-and-its-complicated/},
}