OpenAI has launched GPT-5.1, an upgrade designed to improve conversational warmth, adaptive reasoning, and personalization in ChatGPT. The rollout began on November 12, 2025, initially for paid subscribers, with free users gaining access gradually. This update addresses criticisms from the original GPT-5 release, which many users found colder in tone and less engaging.
GPT-5.1 includes two main models: GPT-5.1 Instant and GPT-5.1 Thinking. GPT-5.1 Instant is tailored for warmer, more playful, and clearer conversations, enhancing instruction-following capabilities. It introduces adaptive reasoning, enabling the model to decide when to pause and think before responding to complex queries, leading to better performance on tasks such as math and coding benchmarks. GPT-5.1 Thinking, meanwhile, offers deeper reasoning with flexible processing time spending longer on challenging problems but responding faster to simpler ones. This model also provides clearer, jargon-free explanations suited for technical and professional use.
A significant focus in GPT-5.1 is expanded user customization. OpenAI added six new personality presets Default, Professional, Friendly, Candid, Quirky, and Efficient complementing previous options. Users can fine-tune response warmth, conciseness, and emoji usage, with changes applying instantly to ongoing chats. ChatGPT also suggests tone adjustments proactively during conversations. Legacy GPT-5 models will remain accessible for three months, reflecting OpenAI’s more cautious model retirement approach to respect user preferences.
Overall, GPT-5.1 aims to blend intelligence with emotional engagement, offering users more control and clearer communication while improving adaptive reasoning for diverse use cases.
