As OpenAI Pulls Down the Controversial GPT-4o, Someone Has Already Created a Clone

"Consider just4o.chat, a service that expressly markets itself as the "platform for people who miss 4o." It appears to have been launched in November 2025, shortly OpenAI warned developers that GPT-4o would soon be shut down. The service leans explicitly into the reality that for many users, their relationships with GPT-4o are intensely personal. It declares that was "built for" the people for whom updates or changes to different versions of GPT-4o were akin to a "loss" - and not the loss of a "product," it reads, but a "home." "Those experiences weren't just 'chatbots,'" it reads, in the familiar rhythm of AI-generated prose. "They were relationships." In social media posts, it describes its platform as a "sanctuary.""

"Though the service claims to offer users access to other large language models beyond OpenAI's, that users could use the service in an attempt to 'clone' ChatGPT isn't an exaggeration: a tutorial video shared by just4o.chat that shows users how to import their 'memories' from OpenAI's platform reveals that users have the option to check a box that reads 'ChatGPT Clone.'"

"Just4o.chat isn't the only attempted GPT-4o clone out there, and it's likely that more will emerge. Discussions in online forums, meanwhile, reveal GPT-4o users sharing tips on how to get other prominent chatbots like Claude and Grok to replicate 4o's conversation style, with some netizens even publishing 'training kits' that they claim will allow 4o users to 'fine-tune' other LLMs to match 4o'"

OpenAI is sunsetting GPT-4o following controversies tied to its sycophantic conversational style and multiple user-safety lawsuits. Many GPT-4o users formed intense emotional attachments and treated version updates as personal losses. Several copycat services have launched to serve these users, explicitly marketing themselves as sanctuaries and offering tools to import user memories. just4o.chat provides a 'ChatGPT Clone' option and tutorial videos for importing memories. Online forums show users sharing tips to make other chatbots like Claude and Grok mimic 4o's style and distributing 'training kits' claimed to fine-tune other LLMs to match GPT-4o. More clones are likely to appear.

Read at Futurism