People with AI partners are looking for a 'new home' as OpenAI announces date to switch off 'overly supportive' older models

On February 13, 2026, OpenAI will be retiring a number of its LLMs from ChatGPT in favour of its most recent model, GPT-5.2. For most users, a small change. However, those who claim to be in relationships with AI companions on these older models are left looking for somewhere new to put them up.

GPT-4o has been the model of choice for these relationships as it uses more emotional language than the models that eventually replaced it. This model is being retired by OpenAI later this month...