OpenAI adds warmth and emoji sliders to ChatGPT personalization

ChatGPT users can now adjust the chatbot’s warmth, enthusiasm, and emoji use, according to a social media post from OpenAI.

These options, along with similar tweaks to ChatGPT’s headers and lists, now appear in the Personalization menu and can be set to More, Less, or Default. They enable users to further customize ChatGPT’s tone, building upon the “base style” options—including Professional, Candid, and Quirky—added by OpenAI in November.

ChatGPT’s tone has been an ongoing challenge this year. OpenAI previously rolled back an update for being “too sycophantic,” and later adjusted GPT-5 to be “warmer and friendlier” after users complained the new model felt cold.

However, the move comes amidst debate. Some academics and AI critics have argued that a chatbot’s tendency to praise users and affirm their beliefs is a “dark pattern” that fosters addictive behavior and can negatively impact mental health.

Despite these concerns, the update follows a broader industry trend toward “steerability,” as AI companies race to move beyond generic, “one-size-fits-all” personalities.

Competitors like Anthropic and Google have introduced similar feature sets, allowing for granular control over output style, attempting to retain users who might otherwise find a default AI persona too robotic or culturally misaligned.