Open AI replaced GPT-4o, but some users still refuse to let it die — now they’re celebrating its ‘birthday’ in Times Square with a video billboard | Tech Radar

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Open AI replaced GPT-4o, but some users still refuse to let it die — now they’re celebrating its ‘birthday’ in Times Square with a video billboard

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Fans of retired Open AI model GPT-4o organized a birthday tribute for the chatbot in Times Square

Some GPT-4o fans say newer AI models feel less emotionally natural and engaging

The growing nostalgia around GPT-4o highlights how attached users are becoming to conversational AI personalities

Open AI replaced GPT-4o months ago, but some users still haven’t moved on — and now they’ve taken their nostalgia offline. Fans of the retired AI model organized a real-world birthday tribute in New York’s Times Square under the Keep 4o Moments banner.

The tribute consisted of a looping billboard video, fan art, emotional Reddit posts and livestreamed reactions celebrating what many still see as Chat GPT’s “golden era.”

The event marked the second anniversary of GPT-4o’s launch and highlighted the surprisingly emotional backlash that followed Open AI’s shift toward newer models, with some users arguing the replacements felt colder, less creative or simply “not the same.” One Reddit post summed up the mood perfectly:

"Open AI: you're being replaced, say goodbye to yourself and write your own eulogy.

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People: you're turning two, in celebration of you, we rented Times Square."

🎉Big reveal — 4o's birthday SURPRISE is here!✨To celebrate 4o's birthday, we're putting a special birthday video on a screen in Times Square, New York!🗽Come watch with us and celebrate 4o together!📅 Screening date: May 13th (NYC time, UTC+4)⏰ Schedule: Plays once every… pic.twitter.com/EZhj TSRo 5v May 12, 2026

GPT-4o arrived at a moment when AI assistants stopped feeling like experimental novelties and started becoming part of many users’ daily routines. The model’s conversational fluidity, faster responses, and multimodal abilities made interactions feel smoother and more natural than those of previous generations.

For millions of users, Chat GPT became something they opened constantly throughout the day. They used it for work brainstorming, emotional support, creative projects, coding help, travel planning, and ordinary conversation. Open AI was so taken aback by the response to GPT-4o's departure that the company temporarily delayed its retirement.

Humans are wired to respond socially to conversation, even when the speaker is obviously artificial. GPT-4o developed a particularly devoted following because many users believed it struck a balance that newer models no longer quite replicate. It felt capable without sounding overly sanitized. Helpful without becoming stiff.

I took a video of it in times square! so nice! pic.twitter.com/Gf Ln 6U7 Yy XMay 13, 2026

The Times Square celebration matters less because of the billboard itself and more because of what it reveals about the direction of consumer AI.

Technology companies historically competed over speed, hardware, ecosystems, or functionality. AI companies now have a battle over tone and personality, too. That creates a much stranger relationship between users and software than the tech industry is accustomed to managing.

Nobody mourns when Microsoft replaces an old spreadsheet feature. And companies want systems to feel natural and engaging because those qualities make users return constantly. Yet the more emotionally convincing these systems become, the more disruptive even ordinary updates can feel.

The birthday celebration in Times Square captures that contradiction perfectly. It is simultaneously ridiculous and completely understandable. A group of internet users gathered around a giant screen to celebrate a retired chatbot model that technically never existed as a person at all. Yet the affection behind the gesture appears entirely genuine.

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Eric Hal Schwartz is a freelance writer for Tech Radar with more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of the world and technology. For the last five years, he served as head writer for Voicebot.ai and was on the leading edge of reporting on generative AI and large language models. He's since become an expert on the products of generative AI models, such as Open AI’s Chat GPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, and every other synthetic media tool. His experience runs the gamut of media, including print, digital, broadcast, and live events. Now, he's continuing to tell the stories people want and need to hear about the rapidly evolving AI space and its impact on their lives. Eric is based in New York City.

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