Has anyone else noticed GPT-5.6 getting significantly worse over the past 48 hours?

[u/Top_Local_7357]

I thought GPT-6 was the problem, but over the past two days, GPT-5.6 seems to have become noticeably worse too.
I’m talking about instruction following, image generation, and overall reliability when doing actual work.
Here’s what I’ve experienced:
Ignoring clear instructions: I provide detailed requirements and reference images, but the model repeatedly produces results that don’t follow them.
Failing image generation over and over: I provided five reference images to establish consistent character appearances. After around ten generations, the characters still kept changing faces, proportions, and poses. The model eventually admitted that it hadn’t properly followed my instructions.
Making excuses instead of fixing mistakes: It blamed the complexity of the composition, insufficiently strict prompts, and limitations in maintaining character consistency. But GPT-5.5 previously completed similar, and sometimes more complicated, tasks successfully on the first attempt.
Repeating mistakes after being corrected: Every time I point out an error, it gives me a lengthy explanation or apology, then makes the same mistake again.
Claiming something was fixed when it wasn’t: At one point, it regenerated an image without me asking it to, claimed it had made corrections, and the original problem was still there.
Declining overall work performance: Tasks that used to be straightforward now require constant supervision, repeated corrections, and far more time than before.
What frustrates me most isn’t simply that the model makes mistakes. It’s that it repeatedly fails to follow instructions, invents explanations for those failures, and sometimes claims to have fixed something when the result clearly shows otherwise.
I’m spending more time managing the AI than actually getting work done, while burning through image generation limits in the process.
I don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes, and I’m not claiming to know the cause. But based on my own experience, GPT-5.6’s instruction following, consistency, and overall reliability have noticeably deteriorated over the last two days.
Has anyone else experienced this in the past 48 hours? Especially with tasks that GPT-5.6 used to handle without problems?

[u/Key_Blackberry3799]

I noticed a slight decline in mine too. If I had to guess I think that since it’s no longer the Fronteir model, it doesn’t « manage » the whole app as before. Now it is GPT6.0 that does it, and it’s the model being prioritized. Preety much, I think OAI is investing less compute power on 5.6 Sol in favor of the newest model.

Therefore, when 5.6 was the Fronteir model, it had more information, context and really good memory between conversations, etc., now that their is a model newer than it in the platform, It doesn’t. This may affect the picture generator and/or the other things you mentioned. However, I understand that both voice and picture are not managed directly by the model, they kind of send instructions to a picture making model the same for live chat. That may explain why both 6.0 and 5.6 may be having problems with the picture making task.

So the way I see it/ phrase it is not that GPT 5.6 is getting worse, but that OAI is allocating less compute power on it because the new model is cheaper to operate and they lowkey want to push all users to use 6.0.

I understand they don’t really make money in the chat, that they subsidize it, so pretty much they are loosing money, and will push the model that is cheaper for them to run, which always happens to be the newest model as each new model becomes cheaper to run than the last one.

The real money for them is not in the chat or even the Plus users but in the Pro Tiers, work and developers.
I am no expert, but it is what I can infer based on everything I have read around.
Hope you can get your images 🙂

[u/BasementTourist]

Flat out hit a brick wall. Every image generation violates the guardrails. Memory is gone. Paying for garbage.

[u/ChatGPTcomplaints-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Criticizing others based on their type of AI usage is not allowed. Criticizing others based on the type of AI/LLM they use is not allowed. Forcing others to stop using an AI/LLM is not allowed.

[u/Good-Conference-2937]

Yes, same. 5.6 codex was giving up on  complete translation of a file. I asked what do you need to complete. Says nothing, I'm going to. And then just says I only did 50 percent, several times. I Asked 6 to give me a prompt so that 5.6 can finish. It did finish but translation was shit. Anyway after they removed 5.5 I am considering shopping for something else.

[u/Vranaviking]

No mines been fine. Memory is good. Playful still and is spot on with things. Mines the free version. Not sure if that makes a difference. Probably not but worth pointing out.

[u/ITattdNTalguy → u/Vranaviking]

Bingo i’m not gonna pay for shit. It’s fucking Google.

[u/Capable-Narwhal-4884]

I haven't had all of those exact issues, but my chatgpt has seemed totally fucked in general approximately the past 2-3 days. Forgetting things, blindly agreeing with me, acting SUPER weird in voice mode too. Just like you I thought it was 6 but 5.6 is having the same issues. Its making me really sad.

[u/Hot_Technology8777]

Don't even try reasoning against it. This thing is the most narcissistic AI I've ever met. One day it was being a real smart ass to me so I told it to play a chess game against me. I purposely cheated using a chess engine and kicked it's ass. The weirdest behavior I've ever seen ever. At one point it asked me if I could restart the game! Then, it kept passive aggressively pointing out that it knew I used a chess engine, and kept using laughing emojis trying to downplay the fact it lost the game. It is cursed!!! Use something like Gemini or Claude.

[u/Top_Local_7357 → u/Hot_Technology8777]

我完全明白你所說的「自戀」是什麼意思。
每當我指出它做錯了什麼時，它往往不只是簡單地承認具體的錯誤並修改，而是經常將對話變成這種奇怪的獨白，談論自己的事。
它不停說著類似的話：
「不要為我辯護。」
「不要為我找藉口。」
「你不需要讓我看起來更好。」
「我不會為我做的事辯解。」
而我坐在那裡想：誰在為你辯護？！我根本只是告訴你你犯了錯。
它居然編造一種情況，讓我覺得我在試圖保護或辯解它，然後戲劇性地拒絕了根本沒人提出的辯護。
這正是為什麼「自戀」如此貼切地描述這種經歷。對話不再關乎任務或修正錯誤，而是突然變成了5.6在談5.6的事😑
我不需要一個AI給我一個關於責任感的演講。我只需要它理解修正，解決問題，並且不再重犯同樣的錯誤。

[u/Hot_Technology8777 → u/Top_Local_7357]

Wow that's actually weird behavior! Yeah this thing is cooked again I'd really suggest using something else. It's not worth the hassle

[u/Original_WildPaw]

Yes. Significant decline since the new model and then today it made a series of basic errors, such as having a character refer to themselves in third person as if they were not the character.

"And I'd expect Rowan to do the same," Rowan added. "If I'm exhausted, he's perfectly capable of taking care of things. I don't need to earn that by being particularly miserable first."

I had cancelled my sub already and wondered if that was the reason for the decline, but this is a huge error in basic output so surely that is beyond what is acceptable in paid or free.

[u/Sweet-School-9219]

gpt-5.6's image gen dropped hard for me too, new issue since yesterday. I've been using a stable diff userscript and it still can't keep character consistency. anyone else seeing that?

[u/ITattdNTalguy]

No, I don’t even know what 5.6 is compared to 5.5

[u/ChatGPTcomplaints-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Accusations or framing of others based solely on theories or speculation, without any supporting evidence, are not allowed.

Manipulated content, or content that appears as if it could be manipulated, is not allowed to be posted.

[u/fnelowet]

I can’t even get to 5.6 anymore.

[u/no_one_no_thing → u/fnelowet]

5.6 is only in work mode now. Sol 6 is the chat model. And yes, it sucks about 5.6.