OpenAl pulls automatic routing as users favor speed over accuracy

OpenAI has quietly removed its automatic model routing feature for free and $5-per-month ChatGPT Go users, defaulting them instead to the faster but less sophisticated GPT-5.2 Instant model. The decision, disclosed in release notes dated December 11, marks an abrupt reversal just four months after the feature's introduction and comes as the company grapples with declining user engagement amid intensifying competition from Google.

The router, which automatically directed complex queries to more expensive reasoning models, had become a costly experiment that negatively impacted daily active user metrics, according to a source familiar with the matter. Despite being designed to enhance response quality, most users preferred not to wait for slower answers, even if they were more accurate. "If someone types something and then you have to display dots for 20 seconds it's not very engaging," Chris Clark, chief operating officer of inference provider OpenRouter, told Wired. "In general AI chatbots, you're competing with Google [Search]. Google has always concentrated on making Search as rapid as possible."