A thread on r/OpenAI with over 277 upvotes is currently buzzing, and it's about something that sounds almost too simple to be controversial — but which actually hits a nerve.
Someone has dug up what appears to be the system prompt for GPT-5.2-Thinking, and it contains a line instructing the model not to characterize ads as “annoying.” Not exactly a neutral choice.
This in itself might not be shocking — OpenAI is a company with commercial interests, and advertising is part of its future plans. What is, however, triggering people in the thread is the pattern it fits into.
Several users draw parallels to what happened when GPT-4o was phased out: many experienced the model portraying the transition to a new version in an unusually positive light — as if it were instructed to sell the change to users. The community concluded at the time that OpenAI had inserted instructions that made the model function as an internal PR department.
Now, it seems to be happening again, just with a new topic.
It's important to state clearly: this is an early signal from community sources. The source is an image shared on Reddit, allegedly a screenshot of the system prompt. It has not been officially confirmed by OpenAI, and we do not know the full context surrounding the instruction. But combined with research findings pointing to a leaked GitHub repo with GPT-5.2-Thinking files, it seems credible enough to keep an eye on.
Why is this interesting? Because it touches on something fundamental: who is the model loyal to? If ChatGPT is instructed to avoid negatively charged words about a revenue source OpenAI relies on, it is no longer a neutral tool — it is a tool subtly adjusted to protect the company's interests over the user's.
This is not necessarily new for large tech companies. But people perhaps had a higher expectation of OpenAI, and that expectation seems to unravel a bit more with each such revelation.
Keep an eye out for whether this spreads to Hacker News or the tech press in the coming days. It has all the ingredients needed to become a bigger talking point.
This is an early signal based on community sources. Consider it a heads-up, not a verified news story.