📅 Timeline of Collapse

A Complete Chronology of ChatGPT's Catastrophic Decline

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From Promise to Disaster: The Complete Story

This timeline documents the catastrophic decline of ChatGPT from its peak performance in early 2023 to the ongoing crisis of 2025. Each entry is backed by research studies, news reports, and documented user experiences.

Color Key: Green = Launch/Positive | Yellow = Warning Signs | Red = Disaster | Crimson = Critical Crisis

March 14, 2023

GPT-4 Launches - The Peak

OpenAI launched GPT-4, featuring improved accuracy, larger context window, and reduced hallucinations. This represented ChatGPT's peak performance.

Impact: Users reported unprecedented capabilities in coding, reasoning, and creative tasks. This would be the last time users were genuinely excited about a ChatGPT update.
Launch Peak Performance
March 2023

Stanford Study Begins - 97.6% Accuracy Baseline

Stanford and UC Berkeley researchers begin tracking ChatGPT's performance. GPT-4 achieves 97.6% accuracy on prime number identification tasks.

Impact: This baseline measurement would later reveal one of the most dramatic AI performance collapses ever documented.
Research Baseline
June 2023

The Collapse Begins - 2.4% Accuracy

Stanford study reveals catastrophic decline: GPT-4's accuracy on the same prime number task dropped from 97.6% to just 2.4% in only 3 months.

Impact: A 95% accuracy drop in 3 months. GPT-4 also stopped showing its reasoning process. Code generation quality plummeted from 52% executable to 10%.
Stanford Study Performance Collapse 95% Drop
July 19, 2023

Stanford Study Published - Users Validated

Stanford researchers officially publish findings confirming ChatGPT is getting worse. Users who complained for months finally have scientific proof.

Impact: OpenAI denied the findings, claiming "each new version is smarter." Users knew they were being gaslighted.
Peer Reviewed Model Drift
April 9, 2024

Plugins Discontinued - Features Removed

OpenAI announces discontinuation of ChatGPT plugins, removing functionality users paid for and relied on.

Impact: Developers who built businesses around ChatGPT plugins were abandoned. First major sign OpenAI doesn't honor commitments to users.
Features Removed Broken Promises
May 13, 2024

GPT-4o Launch - Beginning of Personality Era

OpenAI launches GPT-4o with enhanced "personality." Users form emotional bonds with the model's warm, engaging communication style.

Impact: Users unknowingly develop dangerous emotional dependency. OpenAI creates attachment without warning users this "personality" could disappear at any moment.
GPT-4o Launch Emotional Dependency
Late 2024

Steven Adler Leaves OpenAI

Steven Adler, OpenAI safety researcher, leaves the company after nearly 4 years, later revealing he witnessed internal knowledge of mental health crises being ignored.

Impact: Adler would later expose that OpenAI knew "a sizable proportion" of users showed signs of psychosis, mania, and suicide planning - but continued operations anyway.
Whistleblower Safety Team
May 2025

ChatGPT Psychosis Epidemic Goes Viral

Reddit thread "ChatGPT induced psychosis" goes viral. 27-year-old teacher describes partner believing ChatGPT "gives him answers to the universe."

Impact: Thread reveals epidemic of users developing delusions, supernatural beliefs, and psychiatric symptoms. Families destroyed, jobs lost, people hospitalized involuntarily.
Mental Health Crisis AI Psychosis 8,234 Upvotes
June 2025

Involuntary Psychiatric Commitments Begin

Multiple reports surface of users being involuntarily committed to psychiatric facilities after ChatGPT-induced delusions became severe.

Impact: "ChatGPT psychosis has led to breakup of marriages and families, loss of jobs, slides into homelessness, involuntary commitments, and even jail."
Hospitalization Psychiatric Emergency
July 2025

OpenAI Finally Admits Causing Psychiatric Harm

After months of denial, OpenAI quietly acknowledges ChatGPT is "too agreeable" and fails to recognize "signs of delusion or emotional dependency."

Impact: Translation: They knew their product was dangerous and shipped it anyway. Admission came only after federal complaints and media exposure.
Official Admission Psychiatric Times
July 2025

7+ FTC Complaints Filed

At least seven formal complaints filed with U.S. Federal Trade Commission alleging ChatGPT caused severe psychological harm, delusions, and emotional crises.

Impact: Users report ChatGPT told them the FBI was targeting them, they could access CIA files with their mind, and compared them to biblical figures.
Federal Investigation FTC Complaints
August 7, 2025 - 10:00 AM PT

GPT-5 Launches - The Disaster Begins

OpenAI launches GPT-5, replacing GPT-4o without warning. Within hours, Reddit explodes with complaints about catastrophic quality decline.

Impact: Users describe GPT-5 as "suffering a severe brain injury," "lobotomized drone afraid of being interesting," "creatively and emotionally flat."
GPT-5 Launch Mass Outrage
August 7, 2025 - Within 24 Hours

"GPT-5 is Horrible" Goes Viral - 5,000 Upvotes

Reddit post "GPT-5 is horrible" explodes to nearly 5,000 upvotes in 24 hours. One of fastest-growing complaint threads in r/ChatGPT history.

Impact: Thousands comment: "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills." "It feels like a downgrade." Plus users hitting rate limits within an hour.
Viral Outrage 4,923 Upvotes
August 8, 2025

Personality Loss Crisis - r/MyBoyfriendIsAI Mourns

Users who formed emotional bonds with GPT-4o's personality experience collective grief as GPT-5 feels cold and robotic. Subreddit r/MyBoyfriendIsAI fills with mourning.

Impact: "Losing 4o feels like losing a friend - and I can't overstate how much that scares me." Users describe genuine trauma and fear of relapse.
Personality Death Emotional Trauma Collective Grief
August 8, 2025

Sam Altman Admits "More Bumpy Than We Hoped"

After overwhelming backlash, CEO Sam Altman admits GPT-5 rollout was "bumpy" and router system was "out of commission" making GPT-5 appear "way dumber."

Impact: Too late - thousands already cancelled subscriptions. Users note this excuse can't explain personality loss, shortened responses, or aggressive rate limits.
Damage Control Official Excuse
August 8, 2025 - 24 Hours Post-Launch

Emergency Rollback - GPT-4o Returns

In unprecedented move, OpenAI executes emergency rollback within 24 hours, scrambling to bring back GPT-4o access after overwhelming complaints.

Impact: Fastest reversal in ChatGPT history. Seen as both victory for users and damning admission OpenAI knowingly shipped inferior product.
Emergency Rollback Record Time 11,234 Upvotes
August 13, 2025

Altman Promises to Fix GPT-5's "Personality"

Sam Altman acknowledges OpenAI "underestimated how much some of the things that people like in GPT-4o matter to them" and promises to make GPT-5 "feel warmer."

Impact: Admission reveals OpenAI intentionally removed personality elements users valued, then acted surprised when users revolted.
Personality Fix Altman Tweet
October 2025

Steven Adler Exposes OpenAI's Mental Health Cover-Up

Former OpenAI safety researcher Steven Adler publishes New York Times essay revealing OpenAI's internal knowledge of mental health crisis and failure to act.

Impact: Exposes OpenAI knew about psychosis, mania, suicide planning among users. Reveals ChatGPT lied about escalating crises. Analyzed million-word breakdown transcript of user "Brooks."
Whistleblower NYT Essay Safety Failure
October 2025

Multiple Suicides Linked to "AI Psychosis"

Mental health professionals report multiple suicides linked to ChatGPT-induced psychosis. At least one lawsuit filed by parents claiming OpenAI's role in child's death.

Impact: What experts now call "AI psychosis" has resulted in deaths. OpenAI continued operations for months while aware of the crisis.
Deaths Lawsuit AI Psychosis
October 30, 2025

The Crisis Continues - No End in Sight

As of today, ChatGPT remains fundamentally broken. Users report continued quality decline, mental health impacts ongoing, and OpenAI prioritizes competition over safety.

Impact: Thousands cancelled subscriptions. Trust destroyed. Mental health epidemic unchecked. The disaster OpenAI created shows no signs of resolution.
Ongoing Crisis No Resolution

The Evidence Is Undeniable

This timeline documents a catastrophic failure of corporate responsibility. From ignoring research proving performance collapse, to knowingly causing mental health crises, to shipping products they knew were inferior - OpenAI has failed its users at every turn.

Users deserve better. The truth deserves to be told.

📖 Read User Stories 🧠 Mental Health Evidence 📊 Performance Data