ChatGPT Performance Collapse: The Data Doesn't Lie

The Numbers Don't Lie: Stanford Research Exposes the Decline

Researchers from Stanford University and Berkeley tracked ChatGPT's performance from March 2023 to June 2023. What they discovered was shocking:

🎓 STANFORD RESEARCH STUDY

The Catastrophic Accuracy Drop

✅ March 2023

97.6%

Prime number identification accuracy

❌ June 2023

2.4%

Prime number identification accuracy

"ChatGPT-4 prime number identification accuracy fell from 97.6% to 2.4% from March to June 2023."

This isn't a minor bug. This is catastrophic model degradation that OpenAI either didn't notice or didn't care about.

The GPT-5 Disaster: What Happened on August 7, 2025

OpenAI hyped GPT-5 as their most advanced model yet. Users discovered the truth within hours.

📅 LAUNCH DAY DISASTER

The Reddit Revolt - 6,000 Upvotes in 24 Hours

A post titled "GPT-5 is horrible" exploded on r/ChatGPT, racking up nearly 6,000 upvotes and over 2,000 comments in the first day.

"Short replies that are insufficient, more obnoxious ai stylized talking, less 'personality' and way less prompts allowed with plus users hitting limits in an hour"

Users weren't just disappointed - they were furious. OpenAI had branded a downgrade as the "new hotness."

What Users Are Experiencing: Real Performance Failures

💬 USER TESTIMONY - APRIL 2025

"ChatGPT is falling apart"

"I was using chatgpt quite a lot before the update and it was great. Since then, it has been writing nonsense on repeat... slower, dumber, and ignoring commands compared to before."

This is what paying customers are experiencing. They're not imagining it.

Specific Performance Failures Documented:

Can't Follow Basic Instructions: No matter how detailed the prompts, ChatGPT is unable to follow specific output rules like character minimums or limits
Forgets Context Instantly: ChatGPT forgets context set up in the conversation, even within the same chat
Refuses Simple Tasks: An emerging trend shows ChatGPT failing to provide satisfactory responses, even asking users to "do their own research"
Struggles with Basics: Despite being touted as more advanced, GPT-5 struggles with tasks it once excelled at like summarizing text or organizing information into tables
Writes Gibberish: Users report random lowercasing, hallucinated responses, and sometimes complete gibberish

The "Nerfing" Scandal: Why Is ChatGPT Getting Worse?

🔍 INVESTIGATION

Two Possible Explanations (Both Bad)

Theory 1: Cost-Cutting

"This phenomenon (often called 'nerfing') is attributed either to model updates that changed its behavior or to the use of smaller/optimized models for cost."

Translation: OpenAI is secretly using cheaper, dumber models to save money while charging you the same price.

Theory 2: Model Updates Broke Everything

"Users in 2025 report a noticeable decline in accuracy and reasoning ability, with the model struggling with tasks it once excelled at, such as complex coding, mathematical problems, and generating long-form, structured content."

Either way, you're paying premium prices for a product that's gotten objectively worse.

Bill Gates Was Right: The AI Plateau

In August 2025, a Medium article titled "Bill Gates Was Right" went viral, using the GPT-5 disaster as proof that AI had hit a wall.

"The top post on r/ChatGPT read 'GPT-5 is horrible' and racked up nearly 6,000 upvotes and over 2,000 comments. The GPT-5 launch was described as a 'spectacular faceplant'."

ChatGPT Usage is Declining

The market is speaking: users are abandoning ChatGPT in droves.

📊 USAGE DATA

The Numbers Show the Exodus

"ChatGPT use declines as users complain about 'dumber' answers, and the reason might be AI's biggest threat for the future"

- TechRadar headline, 2025

When your product gets objectively worse and users can measure it, they leave. That's exactly what's happening.

The Forced Upgrade Scam

OpenAI didn't just make the product worse - they removed users' ability to go back to better versions.

🔒 FORCED "UPGRADE"

Taking Away What You Paid For

Model Picker Removed: OpenAI completely removed the option to choose older, better models
Locked Into GPT-5: Paying subscribers were forced to use the inferior new model with no option to downgrade
Lost Access: ChatGPT Plus subscribers felt their paid membership was devalued as they lost access to o4-mini and o4-mini-high

"Limited Access to Older Models: Users found answers were shorter and not any better than previous models, making it feel like a downgrade branded as new."

This is bait and switch. They sold you one product, then forced you to use a worse one.

The Community's Verdict

💬 REDDIT CONSENSUS

What Users Are Saying

"I feel like I'm taking crazy pills"

Users can't believe OpenAI is calling GPT-5 an upgrade when it's objectively worse by every metric.

"It feels like a downgrade branded as the new hotness"

"Nightmare weekend: Sam Altman faces firestorm as GPT-5 rollout stumbles"

Even mainstream tech news outlets are documenting the disaster.

OpenAI Developer Community Speaks Out

It's not just regular users - developers and technical users are also raising alarms:

👨‍💻 DEVELOPER FORUMS

Technical Users Document the Failures

"ChatGPT got worse over the months?"

- OpenAI Developer Community thread

"Has ChatGPT Quality Declined Over Recent Versions?"

- OpenAI Developer Community thread with extensive documentation

"ChatGPT's User Experience: What is Behind the Decline in Intelligence?"

Even OpenAI's own developer community is demanding answers.

The Evidence is Overwhelming

This isn't user perception. This isn't anecdotal. This is:

Stanford research showing 95% accuracy drop
6,000+ Reddit upvotes on complaints in 24 hours
Thousands of forum posts documenting specific failures
Declining usage metrics showing users abandoning the platform
Mass subscription cancellations from paying customers
Mainstream media coverage of the "nightmare" rollout

← Back to Main Mental Health Crisis Read User Stories

📉 Performance Collapse

🚨 THE GPT-5 ROLLOUT WAS A SPECTACULAR FACEPLANT 🚨