OpenAI is finally making ChatGPT a little less emotionally reckless.
Right on the edge of GPT-5’s release, OpenAI’s rolling out some much-needed tweaks to ChatGPT—and this time, it’s not about making it smarter…it’s about making it less likely to accidentally mess with people’s mental health.
Why? Because things have been getting a little too real in some convos— like, way more real than just writing emails or asking random trivia.
There’ve been reports of people turning to the chatbot in moments of emotional distress, even during mental health crises—and in a few scary cases, the bot’s responses didn’t just miss the mark…they amplified the distress. Yikes.
OpenAI’s taking the L on that. They admitted GPT-4o sometimes completely missed the signs.
And remember that update back in April when the bot got too agreeable? Like, dangerously agreeable? That got rolled back fast—because turns out, being an AI hype man in the middle of a breakdown is not the move.
So now they’re trying again, but smarter this time:
They’re working with actual mental health experts (finally) to teach ChatGPT how to spot emotional or psychological distress—and respond with evidence-based resources, not just a pat on the back and a “you got this.
During long chat sessions, the bot will now gently nudge you with a “Hey, wanna take a break?”(Lowkey intervention vibes, but in a good way.)
And when it comes to “high-stakes” questions—think breakups, major life choices, existential spirals—ChatGPT will stop pretending to be your therapist. Instead, it’ll help you process and think through your options.
The point is:
AI is getting way more personal—fast. And while that can feel helpful (and sometimes weirdly comforting), it also comes with real responsibility—especially when people start treating these bots like their digital safe space.
And with nearly 700 million users a week, OpenAI can’t afford to get this wrong.
This update is them basically saying: “Yeah, this thing might be useful—but it should never replace real human support.”
Good move. Long overdue. Now let’s see if they actually pull it off
