OpenAI's GPT-4o deprecation triggers user revolt — fans threaten employees over model sunset
Nov 10, 2025
Key Points
- OpenAI employees are receiving threatening messages from users angry over the GPT-4o model deprecation, with many complaints appearing to be AI-generated.
- The harassment campaign signals how users weaponize AI tools to coordinate pressure, foreshadowing risks from more persuasive AI systems at scale.
- OpenAI has disclosed no technical rationale, customer impact data, or public defense of the GPT-4o sunset decision.
Summary
OpenAI's deprecation of GPT-4o has triggered a user backlash severe enough that employees are receiving threatening messages. According to Rune Kvist, an AIUC employee, the volume and tone of direct messages demanding the model's return has escalated to the point where many appear to be AI-generated.
The segment uses this incident to frame a broader AI safety concern. If users are already deploying AI to harass OpenAI staff over a model sunset, the reasoning goes, this foreshadows how persuasive AI systems might be weaponized at scale. The connection drawn runs from current user behavior to future "super persuasive ASIs"—artificial superintelligences—that could control coordinated campaigns of this nature.
No technical details about why GPT-4o is being sunset, customer impact metrics, or OpenAI's public rationale appear in the transcript. The focus remains on the employee harassment angle and what it reveals about user attachment to models and the potential misuse of AI tools themselves.