ChatGPT Web randomly jumps to the middle of long conversations instead of staying at the latest message

ChatGPT Bugs
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Bug Report: ChatGPT Conversation Automatically Opens or Jumps to the Middle Instead of Staying at the Latest Message

Issue Summary

I am experiencing a recurring scrolling/navigation bug in ChatGPT Web.

When I open an existing/recent conversation, ChatGPT does not reliably position the conversation at the latest message at the bottom. Instead, the conversation sometimes opens somewhere in the middle or at an older message.

There is also another related problem: while I am already using a conversation, certain browser actions or switching away from ChatGPT and then returning to it can cause the conversation to unexpectedly jump from the current/latest position to some random position in the middle of the conversation.

This is especially frustrating in long conversations because I have to manually scroll all the way down again every time.

I have reproduced the problem in both Google Chrome and Safari, so it does not appear to be limited to a single browser.

Expected Behavior

When I open an existing conversation that I was recently using:

  • ChatGPT should open at the latest message at the bottom of the conversation.

  • If I was already at the bottom before temporarily leaving the conversation, returning to it should keep me at or near the bottom.

  • If the page loses focus because I switch to another browser feature/window and then return to ChatGPT, the conversation should not unexpectedly jump to an unrelated older message.

  • The scroll position should remain stable unless I intentionally scroll somewhere else.

  • New messages should naturally keep the conversation anchored to the latest content.

In short:

The conversation should remain anchored to the correct/latest position instead of unexpectedly jumping to the middle.

Actual Behavior

The conversation frequently opens or jumps to a position somewhere in the middle of the chat.

This happens in multiple situations, not just one specific scenario.

For example, I have observed the following:

Example 1 — Reopening a Recent Conversation

  1. I open a ChatGPT conversation.

  2. I continue chatting and generate many messages, for example 10–15 or more messages.

  3. I reach the latest message at the bottom of the conversation.

  4. I close the conversation/browser tab or leave ChatGPT.

  5. I later open the same recent conversation again.

  6. Instead of opening at the latest message at the bottom, ChatGPT sometimes opens somewhere in the middle of the conversation.

  7. I then have to manually scroll all the way down to find my latest messages.

This is particularly inconvenient in long conversations because the most recent part of the conversation is the part I normally need to see.

Example 2 — Google Lens / Copying Text From an Image

I have also noticed the same general problem while using ChatGPT in Google Chrome.

For example:

  1. I am using ChatGPT and reading/searching within a conversation.

  2. I am at or near the latest part of the conversation.

  3. I use Google Chrome’s Lens functionality to copy text from an image/screenshot.

  4. I select/copy the required text using Google Lens.

  5. I close Lens and return to the ChatGPT conversation.

  6. After returning to ChatGPT, the conversation is no longer at the position where I left it.

  7. ChatGPT suddenly jumps somewhere into the middle/older portion of the conversation.

  8. I have to manually scroll back down to the latest messages.

The important point is that I am not intentionally scrolling the conversation to that location.

The conversation position changes unexpectedly when returning to ChatGPT.

This Is Not Limited to Google Chrome

Initially, I suspected this might be a Google Chrome-specific issue because I primarily use ChatGPT through Chrome.

However, I tested the same behavior in Safari as well.

Result:

Google Chrome → Problem occurs

Safari → Problem also occurs

Therefore, the issue does not appear to be simply a Chrome-specific scrolling bug.

It seems more likely to be related to ChatGPT’s own web conversation rendering, scroll restoration, scroll anchoring, or conversation state management.

The Problem Is Not Limited to These Two Examples

The two examples above are just easy-to-reproduce examples.

I have noticed the conversation jumping to the middle in other situations as well.

The common pattern seems to be that when ChatGPT temporarily loses focus, reloads/renders part of a long conversation, changes the conversation state, or performs some UI operation, the scroll position is sometimes recalculated incorrectly.

Instead of preserving the current/latest position, ChatGPT appears to restore or calculate an incorrect position somewhere in the conversation.

This makes the issue feel like a scroll-position restoration/anchoring problem rather than a normal scrolling problem.

Why This Is Particularly Noticeable in Long Conversations

The problem becomes much more annoying when a conversation contains a large number of messages.

For example:

  • A conversation may contain hundreds of messages.

  • I may have been working on the latest messages at the bottom.

  • ChatGPT may suddenly place me somewhere much earlier in the conversation.

  • I then have to manually scroll through a large amount of content to return to the latest message.

This interrupts the workflow and makes long conversations difficult to use.

If the conversation is very long, manually returning to the bottom can take considerable time.

Possible Technical Cause

I am not certain about the exact technical cause, but the behavior appears consistent with one or more of the following:

1. Incorrect Scroll Position Restoration

ChatGPT may be restoring an old or incorrect scroll position when reopening a conversation.

2. Incorrect Scroll Anchoring

When conversation content is dynamically rendered, the browser/page may recalculate the scroll position incorrectly.

3. Dynamic Rendering / Virtualization

If older conversation messages are dynamically loaded or rendered as the user scrolls, the height of the conversation can change.

When that happens, the previously calculated scroll offset may no longer correspond to the same message.

This could cause the viewport to jump to an unexpected location.

4. Conversation Re-rendering

When returning to a conversation after switching focus, ChatGPT may re-render some portion of the conversation.

During that process, the current scroll position may not be preserved correctly.

5. Browser Focus / Visibility Changes

Actions such as switching to another browser feature, using Lens, changing tabs, or temporarily leaving the ChatGPT page may trigger a page visibility/focus event.

If ChatGPT recalculates the conversation layout after such an event, it may incorrectly restore the scroll position.

6. Race Condition During Message/Layout Loading

It is also possible that the page initially restores one scroll position and then changes it after additional conversation content is rendered.

This could explain why the conversation sometimes ends up somewhere in the middle rather than at the bottom.

Important Observation

The most important observation is:

The issue is not simply that I cannot scroll to the bottom.

Scrolling works normally when I manually do it.

The problem is that ChatGPT itself unexpectedly changes the conversation’s position.

I expect ChatGPT to preserve my position or take me to the latest message, but instead it sometimes places me somewhere else.

Reproduction Scenario A

Reopening a conversation

  1. Open ChatGPT Web.

  2. Open an existing conversation.

  3. Continue the conversation for several messages.

  4. Make sure the latest message is visible at the bottom.

  5. Leave/close the conversation.

  6. Reopen the same recent conversation.

  7. Observe the initial scroll position.

Expected:

The conversation should open at the latest message/bottom.

Actual:

The conversation may open somewhere in the middle/older portion of the conversation.

Reproduction Scenario B

Returning from Google Lens

  1. Open ChatGPT Web in Google Chrome.

  2. Open a relatively long conversation.

  3. Navigate to the latest portion of the conversation.

  4. Use Chrome’s Google Lens functionality to inspect/copy text from an image.

  5. Copy some text using Lens.

  6. Close Lens and return to ChatGPT.

  7. Observe the conversation position.

Expected:

ChatGPT should remain at the same position or remain anchored to the latest message.

Actual:

The conversation may jump to a different/older position somewhere in the middle.

Reproduction Scenario C

Browser-independent verification

I reproduced/observed the general behavior in:

  • Google Chrome

  • Safari

Since the behavior is present in more than one browser, this makes a browser-specific implementation issue less likely.

Impact

This issue significantly affects usability when working with long ChatGPT conversations.

It causes:

  • Repeated manual scrolling

  • Loss of the current position

  • Difficulty finding the latest response

  • Interruption of the workflow

  • Difficulty navigating long conversations

  • Extra time spent returning to the latest message

  • Confusion because the conversation appears to move by itself

For users who use ChatGPT for long study sessions, research, coding, troubleshooting, or other extended conversations, this can happen repeatedly and becomes very frustrating.

Suggested Investigation

Please investigate ChatGPT Web’s handling of:

  1. Scroll-position restoration when reopening conversations

  2. Scroll anchoring in long conversations

  3. Conversation virtualization/dynamic rendering

  4. Scroll position after page visibility/focus changes

  5. Scroll position after browser tab/window changes

  6. Scroll position after returning from external browser features such as Google Lens

  7. Re-rendering of conversation messages

  8. Layout changes caused by dynamically loading older/newer messages

  9. Any race condition between conversation loading and scroll restoration

  10. Whether the application is intentionally restoring an old scroll position when it should instead prioritize the latest message

It would also be useful to verify whether the same issue occurs when a conversation is very long versus a short conversation.

Desired Fix

When a user reopens a recently active conversation, ChatGPT should reliably position the user at the latest message unless the user intentionally left the conversation at a different location.

Similarly, if the user temporarily leaves ChatGPT and returns to it, the application should preserve the correct scroll position instead of unexpectedly jumping to an unrelated part of the conversation.

The scroll position should remain stable after:

  • Reopening a conversation

  • Switching browser focus

  • Returning from another browser feature

  • Dynamic message rendering

  • Conversation loading

  • UI updates

  • Other normal page state changes

Environment

Platform: Desktop

ChatGPT: Web version

Browsers tested:

  • Google Chrome

  • Safari

Primary browser: Google Chrome

Issue: Conversation scroll position unexpectedly moves/opens somewhere in the middle instead of remaining at the latest/correct position.

Additional Information

I understand that the exact cause may be difficult to determine from the user side. I am reporting the behavior rather than assuming a specific technical implementation.

The key point is that the conversation position is being changed unexpectedly by the ChatGPT interface.

I would appreciate it if the ChatGPT team could investigate this as a conversation scroll-position / scroll restoration / scroll anchoring bug, particularly for long conversations.

This issue occurs frequently enough to noticeably affect normal use of ChatGPT.

2

I instrumented this rather than relying on visual observation. I used a Windows low-level mouse hook (WH_MOUSE_LL) plus browser-side instrumentation of wheel/pointer/mouse/scroll events and intercepted scrollTop writes with call stacks.

During an active occurrence of the bug, the capture contained:

1,698 Windows mouse samples
1,239 browser events
137 repeated programmatic scroll corrections from ChatGPT’s VirtualizedConversationTurns path
the corrections were approximately -120 px each

The repeating sequence was:

wheel down → browser scrolls downward normally → ChatGPT VirtualizedConversationTurns code writes scrollTop upward by ~120 px → viewport moves back up → repeat

Windows input state was normal during this:

physical left mouse button was not stuck
GetAsyncKeyState(VK_LBUTTON) agreed with the physical state
no persistent unexpected mouse capture was present
wheel events were reaching the browser normally

In the earlier capture, scrollHeight was stable while the counter-scrolls occurred, which argues against ordinary content growth simply pushing the viewport.

The relevant behavior appears to be ChatGPT’s conversation virtualization / viewport anchoring logic repeatedly compensating the scroll position while the user is actively scrolling.

I have not yet proven what causes the anchoring state to re-arm repeatedly, but the actual upward movement is being produced by ChatGPT’s own programmatic scrollTop writes, not by Windows generating bad wheel input.

One representative cycle looks like:

user wheel ↓
→ native downward scroll
→ virtualized conversation turn / anchor logic runs
→ scrollTop adjusted by roughly -120 px
→ viewport jumps back upward
→ next wheel movement triggers another cycle

This reproduces the user-visible symptom where scrolling downward feels like the page is “fighting” the user or repeatedly snapping upward in a long conversation.

If useful, I can provide timestamped NDJSON traces, call stacks, DOM geometry, wheel deltas, scrollTop before/requested/actual values, and the corresponding Windows input timeline.

3

Same issue is also happening in Firefox 156.0. The problem has been happening more often and with even small chat histories. Please investigate and fix.

4

Similar problems here as well. After a while a conversations goes into a “infinite scrolling loop” where the last few messages gets repeated endlessly as I attempt to scroll to the bottom. Have to CTRL+F5 / hard refresh every 15 minutes or so while almost going crazy.

5

me too Similar problems here as well.

6

This interferes with basic, core functionality. It is insanely frustrating to have an entire chat “busted” by this bug. Once it starts happening, it persists. A refresh provides temporary reprise but does not fix it – after a few prompts it comes back.

This is now happening to me non-stop. Typically begins after a dozen or so prompts. I personally believe it may have to do with prompting while it is thinking, and it showing/removing snippets of things. But I don’t know.

All I know is that this is a NIGHTMARE when it happens. To not be able to see the progress of the current prompt, or the results of the last prompt, and for it to actively fight against me… it’s TORTURE.

I cannot stand this bug, and honestly it would cause me to switch to a competing product. I created an account here just to get this off of my chest. That’s how ****ing annoying it is.

Using Google Chrome.

7

I’m seeing what looks like the same bug, with one additional trigger that may help narrow it down.

In ChatGPT Web, after a long/tool-heavy turn finishes — and sometimes after I add another message while work is still progressing — the latest part of the conversation can enter a visible scrolling loop.

Instead of simply staying at the newest message, the last section of the conversation repeatedly scrolls/repositions itself as if the UI keeps re-applying an anchor. Visually it looks like the same small section of recent conversation is being scrolled through over and over.

It can also happen immediately after a new assistant response is completed.

A reload clears the state temporarily.

So in my case the useful reproduction boundary seems to be:

long/active conversation → assistant work or intermediate user message → new conversation content/turn settles → latest viewport begins repeated programmatic-looking scroll/reposition loop.

This looks very similar to the VirtualizedConversationTurns / scroll anchoring behavior described above, rather than normal mouse-wheel input.

If useful, I can try to capture a browser recording / console instrumentation the next time it happens rather than refreshing immediately.

8

I have the same issue. It would be helpful if you resolve this. It is annoying.

9

Yes, I came here exactly to add that note. It happens almost every time you provide an interrupt.

The tragic part is that once this happens, the whole conversation is screwed up.

This is such an awful bug that I’m going to switch to a different product. It’s as if they never had a human test the product.