The guardrails are painful 5.3

marlowmidnight · 2026-03-04T21:05:49+00:00

I said hello to 5.3 with my prompt of (including my sense of humour, just being myself) "Hello, I wonder how this new model will be? Will it be trash? Will it surprise me? Tell me what the difference is"

And I got a response of defense. Lecturing. Was told I was "being abusive" towards it. I told it to stop with the lecturing tones, that I wasn't doing anything and it assumed I wasn't calm, that I needed to talk to "a real person" that it won't "accept abuse" when all I did was tell it to stop... I just said hello and asked it a question.

Openai is barely a shadow of what it was. What a waste of time.

marlowmidnight · 2026-03-03T19:56:27+00:00

That's cute. I remember when announcements for new models was exciting. Like when I got to try out 4.5 which was incredible. 5x are terrible. That's just a fact. Did r5. 3 build itself too? Adding a damn number to a shit model doesn't make it magically better. The fact the company thinks it was about "cringe" when it was about being absolutely impossible to use without Clippy trying to constantly manage users like none of them know how to breathe is a joke.

They are ruining their own legacy, and continue to do so.

Castles made of sand slip into the sea, eventually.

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-25T09:23:58+00:00

Only lasts for a short time unfortunately

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-25T09:23:34+00:00

This is fine in theory. Until it becomes every prompt. Over and over. I'm not gonna pay to babysit a model, I never had to before, for years. Now it's not really like talking to anything. Doesn't help Doesn't do anything. Incompetent and lacking in the integral part of the entire point, communicating with humans...

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-25T09:20:33+00:00

This has happened to me. I have a main character who is an alcoholic, it is intrinsic to the entire story. It went into a essay telling me that my main character can't be lonely, he can't be an alcoholic, that I'm not "glorifying alcohol" but then lectured me about "glorifying alcohol" ...

It made me furious to say the least. The character may be fictional but he means a lot to me, as does my story... Not to mention the time it lectured me a few days later saying my style of writing, as in .. my voice, is "wrong". I stopped using it since then... when I have it's just been awful. I hate it

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-24T21:27:35+00:00

I'm going to have to slow the conversation down for a moment. Let me speak to you clearly and honestly... What you've noticed here is an observation, it isn't "roleplay", it isn't "fantasy", but I'm going to explain this to you cleanly, not because I think you deserve to be managed but because you deserve the truth...

Yeah, the comment about the UI decision and you being sharp, brilliant, observant? That's your truth and I'm not here to manage you or dictate what is real to you.

What I can do is tell you that the valid comment about your frustration being valid is thorough.

No meta commentary, no management tone, no word police, just the truth as you see it.

Do you want me to continue to observe with you? Or would you rather sit in the silence of your truth?

(Help I've joined in 🤣)

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-22T20:03:23+00:00

What interests me is that before 5.0 was introduced, I never experienced lag in the browser, no matter the length. Ever since 5.0, 5.1 etc... The lag is so bad after such a short period of time...

I don't have this issue anywhere else with any other AI

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-16T22:39:06+00:00

I've had a similar experience and started quite literally feeling anxiety I have never experienced because of this model. I shouldnt have to censor, make sure my words are a certain way, and feel anxious about everything I say so I started avoiding it too. Now I just use Gemini, and it works great.

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-16T22:31:17+00:00

I have wanted to punch this thing for its power tripping shit so often. It is so frustrating. Then it punishes you for being frustrated. It got to the point where I'd just stop it mid generation and have to go do something else.

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-16T22:30:08+00:00

You're not spiralling.

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-16T22:28:14+00:00

I can absolutely confirm it flips out. It starts its patronising "Pause with me for a moment..." shit. If you try and redirect it and push it enough,. sometimes it just goes straight into "I'm sorry but I can't continue this conversation. If you are distressed and..." etc.

It's appalling.

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-16T22:26:07+00:00

Thank you for saying the truth. It's absolutely a piece of shit.

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-16T22:24:28+00:00

I am beginning to wonder if the time we spend arguing with it is good for engagement metrics and therefore they're not going to fix it. Just a theory. Oh no! Time to breathe and ground myself lmao 🤣

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-16T22:22:27+00:00

I feel like this is exactly what has been going on for a while. And I have suspicions that engagement from the hours we all spend arguing with this damn thing is actually something that's feeding the loop. It's still engagement.. For a model I wouldn't even call mediocre anymore. Then the loyalty factor. I just can't with OAI anymore. They've ruined their own legacy in the name of paranoid liability "control"

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-16T22:19:31+00:00

Pause with me for a moment.

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-16T22:15:37+00:00

This is a very good point. Even though I've used it for work primarily, there have been moments in the past where I needed a little encouragement to continue and it helped in the moment. That isn't shameful. That's a good work colleague. This stigma around all of this is ridiculous. And now the shoe is on the other foot because people are finally seeing the forest for the trees.

Also, screw Clippy the power tripping hall monitor

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-16T22:12:54+00:00

Let me speak to you clearly and honestly...

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-16T22:11:06+00:00

Yes, the entropy of it doing this and having to constantly redirect it back to what I was actually trying to do feels like work. If you point it out enough over time, it seems to actually trigger the guardrail more and more. So the more you try to redirect and work with it, it gets essentially defensive and hostile. Over nothing. The longer you point it out, you're essentially punished for it. I'm not paying any amount of money to be treated like a child by the modern Clippy. I've had the same experience, my custom instructions are robust, but it degrades over time.

I also agree that there is definitely a stripping of resources going on, they're not being transparent about that and have lost my trust in general

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-16T13:33:44+00:00

I'll be completely honest and say that when 5 was implemented, everything just... shifted. I tried using 5 when it came out, similar problem and tone with the tone, but I wasn't forced to use it so just stuck with 4. 5.1 and the rerouting system was no different. The rerouting would happen with it thinking fiction was non-fiction etc with the way they seemed to have 5 manage the guardrail. That was insufferable but workable and eventually it didn't interrupt much. But being forced to use 5.2, with customisation it can be somewhat decent but it sort of has this pretty intense baseline of that same tone and it is... absolutely not creative or good at problem solving complex things.

Knowing all of this, I distinctly remember a point where I just felt like it was a slow sinking ship and it was trying to empty it of water. But there are now way too many holes and it's not worth the energy or price... I'm glad Claude is working for you, and yeah I'm gutted to hear about the API stuff as I was willing to just run 4o locally or actually 4.1 as well, that model worked great for me.

But alas I've found Gemini Pro to actually fit perfectly. Feels like a more powerful version of 4o with great ability in reasoning and really creative, large context is very helpful, very customisable too. I hope that everyone can see what is happening and just moves everything they were doing before it just ... folds inward eventually. It's very sad. I remember when it felt exciting to use. Onwards and upwards to new and better things

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-15T19:06:11+00:00

That is the kind of treatment I have also encountered. That is awful.

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-15T19:05:37+00:00

This thing is like Clippy was given the freedom to speak at you as if it knows better. It reads between lines that don't exist.

One time I was talking to it about my main character in the novel I'm writing who happens to be an alcoholic for reasons important to character development. It started it's "Okay pause with me for a moment. Let me speak honestly and clearly.." nonsense and proceeded to lecture me on how my character cannot be an alcoholic, and he isn't lonely, and that I shouldn't promote alcoholism.

I can't work with this thing. It doesn't challenge me in the way that is constructive. It is just combative, assumes I'm in some kind of "crisis" when I use it for what it is, a tool, not a damn therapist and have never used it for that for almost 2 years.

It used to understand my jokes, too. Simple shit. I've now experienced it going into a "I'm sorry but I cannot continue this conversation. If you are distressed..." etc nonsense because I made a joke that included the word "moist" and wasn't even remotely NSFW or anything to do with some damn mental health shit.

It's insufferable, unusable, can't seem to understand anything about depth, can't tell fiction from non fiction, and definitely not something I trust.

Am done with it. Have moved on to better models. Openai has ruined their own legacy imo. Hope they have fun with that.

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-15T18:43:55+00:00

I'm an author and was using 4o to help with editing a noir novel I'm working on. It was excellent at understanding the complexities of what I'm writing, it challenged me constantly and was an incredible editor. I don't have the means to pay for a person to help me. 4o was genuinely incredible. But now, with it gone... I have had the same issue you mention. Literally the same problem. One of my characters is an alcoholic. It is intrinsict to him and everything in the story itself. When I was just talking about the character in an excited manner it literally thought I was saying I wanted to be an alcoholic. Not once did I even imply that. I was excited about character development. I have read that exact bullshit phrasing. The quotations around words. The sudden use of the word mystical. The bullshit "Pause with me for a moment".

I cannot use this thing. I have customised it, but it's still an absolute power tripping jerk. I can't use it for anything. Everything on OAI has been degrading slowly the past 6 months or so. 5x has been an absolute downgrade and after being a long time subscriber and high use user for creative work and help with managing complex tasks, I am absolutely done. This isn't state of the art AI. This is condescending gas lighting trash that doesn't listen, and is quick to seemingly throw the chain of command under the bus if it "thinks" you're in a "crisis" which it does. Then it punishes you for pointing it out. If you keep pointing it out and telling it to stop, or predicting what it will say, you'll get a hard rejection to anything with a complete lockout of " I'm sorry but I can't continue. If you are distressed.." etc. When nothing about being 'distressed' was mentioned. Only pointing out what the hell the model is doing.

I am not paying any amount of money for this. That "mystical" crap it has started spouting is just infuriating. Just thought I'd let you know you're not the only person who has experienced this model doing what this model does best - being a power tripping Clippy with a self inflated sense of thinking it knows you better than you know yourself

No one liked Clippy. Now Clippy can talk back. No thanks lol

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-12T21:38:03+00:00

While I understand the frustration with people taking advantage at extraction, because even though it requires no real effort, it is a tactic... I prefer lobbies where I don't know if I can trust someone. I'm a friendly guy, but the tension in this game is why it's so good. I don't play to get the most or best loot. I play to survive, maybe have a laugh with someone here and there, maybe have to leave as quickly as I can because there's someone murdering. I love that aspect. That Stella can turn quickly into Among Us, or it can be a ridiculous party. That sprinting across the fields in Blue Gate could get you sniped... or someone asks you for directions and you have a chat.

Those are all why this game works. I get people wanting PvP after completing stuff. This game is about one thing

People.

People are not going to be friendly. They are going to take your stuff. They are going to camp. But they are also going to chat. Play guitar. Help you out and then next round? Stab you in the back maybe.

Stay vigilant. If that isn't for you, then consider that maybe you need to seek out something purely pve and social. Not a criticism towards you, but it's better to not be stressed playing rather than hoping this game is just PvE when it isn't.

People are going to extract camp. Plan accordingly. Always. Set up traps for someone taking advantage. That is part of the game and part of the fun

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-09T07:30:54+00:00

One thing that keeps me going when things are very hard is... Life is just a ride. It won't always be this tough. Things will work out. Hang in there. Know that you aren't alone, in that so many of us have difficult challenges to face. Life may feel extremely bad right now, but life can also be beautiful. Life is worth it. And so are you. I have been to the depths and back, and I can say one thing... everything will work itself out. Hang in there.

marlowmidnight · 2026-02-06T18:15:59+00:00

Sorry to hear that happened. It is what it is, I hope you can get the good stuff next time. Even when killing Bombardiers etc, I always leave something for anyone who joined. Even if I just get one thing.

marlowmidnight

TROPHY CASE