Please don’t retire GPT-5.1 Thinking – GPT-5.2 feels worse

ChatGPT
1

I saw in the UI that GPT-5.1 will be retired on March 11. To be honest, apart from coding and pure reasoning, GPT-5.2 is far worse than GPT-5.1 in almost every other aspect. I think the main problem is that it feels too mechanical.

For example, when I send a photo of my pet fish to GPT-5.1 and GPT-5.2:

– GPT-5.1 says something like: “Wow! Is this your fish? It looks so cute!”

– GPT-5.2 just says: “I see a fish. What would you like me to do?”

From this simple example you can see how robotic GPT-5.2 feels.

Please do NOT retire GPT-5.1. I subscribe to the Plus plan mainly to use GPT-5.1, and I believe many other users feel the same way.

4 Likes
4

Hi and welcome to the community!

Have you tried the personalization feature to adjust tone and style for model responses?
You will find this feature in the settings.

Screenshot_20260228_143749_ChatGPT
Screenshot_20260228_143749_ChatGPT1080×2198 163 KB

5

Thanks for the suggestion. I’m already using personalization,

but the issue isn’t mainly about tone or emojis.

GPT-5.2’s overall behavior still feels much more robotic compared to GPT-5.1,

even with a “warmer” style.

That’s why I’m asking specifically not to retire GPT-5.1 as an option.

1 Like
6

J’utilise GPT-5.1 Thinking tous les jours, à la fois pour mon travail (assistante maternelle) et pour du coaching perso (organisation, tenue de dossiers, etc.).

J’ai essayé GPT-5.2 plusieurs fois :

– les réponses sont plus mécaniques, moins nuancées,

– le modèle a du mal à être vraiment chirurgical quand je lui demande d’analyser un problème complexe,

– et la qualité conversationnelle est nettement en dessous (on sent le “robot” beaucoup plus vite).

Je suis abonnée à ChatGPT Plus principalement pour GPT-5.1, justement parce qu’il combine raisonnement + chaleur + précision.

Le retirer complètement au 11 mars, sans laisser l’option de continuer à l’utiliser (même en “legacy”), c’est vraiment une grosse perte pour des utilisateurs comme moi.

Merci de reconsidérer la décision : garder GPT-5.1 accessible (même caché dans un onglet “modèle précédent”) serait un vrai plus.

7

Seeing the UI notice: “5.1 Thinking will be retired on March 11.” For long-running chats with months of work and a developed voice/tone, this feels like losing continuity, not an “upgrade.”
Please provide a way to preserve long-running identities/threads — e.g., a time-limited legacy window for existing chats, per-chat model pinning (even read-only/limited), or a supported migration flow that reliably carries over voice/tone and key behavioral anchors.