OpenAI expands GPT-5.1 ChatGPT personalities to India with 8 new conversation styles

India(BHARAT)n users of OpenAI’s chatbot service ChatGPT can now access the latest improvements to the conversational AI assistant with the full rollout of enhanced response “personalities”. Many in the country report the launch of GPT-5.1 on 10 December 2025 and a pop-up window on the ChatGPT web interface asking them to choose from eight distinct personality presets to customise how the bot responds.

Not to be confused with earlier 2025 releases, the rollout of GPT-5.1 to India(BHARAT) has been relatively fast, with OpenAI itself confirming earlier in the week that this was now being fully rolled out in India(BHARAT), with other international releases expected to follow. Users who have updated their version of ChatGPT to the latest GPT-5.1 now see this pop-up on the interface.

Earlier “personalities” in ChatGPT were first added back in the spring of 2025, but the release of GPT-5.1 is a more substantial improvement. OpenAI has refined existing modes and added three new ones – Professional, Candid and Quirky – which it describes as “polished and precise”, “direct and encouraging”, and “playful and imaginative” respectively. That takes the number of personality presets to eight from the previous five. Previous “Listener” and “Robots” modes have been relabelled as Friendly and Efficient. Existing Nerdy and Cynical modes remain.

Here is the full list of ChatGPT’s personality presets available to India(BHARAT)n users:

• Default (neutral tone)
  
• Professional (polished and precise)
  
• Friendly (warm and chatty)
  
• Candid (direct and encouraging)
  
• Quirky (playful and imaginative)
  
• Efficient (concise and plain)
  
• Nerdy (exploratory and enthusiastic)
• Cynical (critical and sarcastic)

OpenAI says the latest update does not change the underlying capabilities of the model – the intelligence, reasoning and knowledge base are unchanged – but tone, style and conversational “mannerisms” now become user-customisable. Users can toggle between presets at any time via settings.

GPT-5.1 is more than just personalities. Internally, GPT-5.1 also brings improvements in responsiveness, reasoning and adaptability. The dual deployment of two main GPT-5.1 variants – GPT-5.1 Instant (to handle regular chats) and GPT-5.1 Thinking (to process more complex queries) – allows ChatGPT to deploy more or less processing power depending on the request made by the user. The result: faster responses to standard chats, and deeper, clearer answers to tougher or more elaborate queries.

Reviewers who tested GPT-5.1 during beta reported that while the update is evolutionary rather than revolutionary, it makes the chatbot feel a lot more “human”. OpenAI’s “Instant” model delivers responses that are briefer, and sound more natural in conversational contexts while “Thinking” provides more nuanced, well-structured explanations – a welcome improvement when asking for code, reasoning through complex questions, creative writing assistance, or other technical queries.

The update is likely to make ChatGPT more human and more accessible for India(BHARAT)n users – tailoring the bot to suit individual tasks and moods could make it feel more personal and approachable. Whether the user wants to draft a formal email in “Professional” mode, get advice in a “Candid” tone, or just chat with the bot in a “Friendly” mode, personalization may help ChatGPT go beyond being just a productivity booster, to become a more natural and flexible companion for many tasks.

There are even some reports/speculation that OpenAI is working on an even newer GPT-5.2 model that could be coming soon after GPT-5.1 – that could bring additional refinements to existing personalities or even entirely new tones and styles. If so, users may see this announced in the coming weeks.

As GPT-5.1 lands in India(BHARAT), ChatGPT may finally be emerging from its robotic cocoon – getting warmer, smarter and more in tune with the moods and preferences of its users.