OpenAI Unveils GPT-5: Major AI Upgrade for ChatGPT Users
ChatGPT, OpenAI’s widely used online chatbot, is receiving a significant overhaul with the introduction of GPT-5, the company’s new flagship artificial intelligence model. This advanced technology is now being rolled out to hundreds of millions of users, marking a substantial leap in the evolution of conversational AI.
OpenAI executives, during a recent briefing, characterized GPT-5 as a “major upgrade” over its predecessors, emphasizing its enhanced speed, accuracy, and reduced propensity to “hallucinate”—a term used to describe when AI models generate inaccurate or fabricated information. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, remarked that the new model “feels significantly better in obvious ways and in subtle ways,” adding that “GPT-5 is the first time that it feels like talking to an expert in any topic — a Ph.D.-level expert.”
Since igniting the modern AI boom with the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, OpenAI has consistently refined the underlying technology. This progression began with the release of GPT-4 in the spring of 2023 and has continued through a series of AI models capable of processing and generating information across different modalities, including listening, looking, and speaking, and approximating human reasoning in complex problem-solving. While OpenAI has been at the forefront, numerous competitors, including Google, Meta, the startup Anthropic, and China’s DeepSeek, have also introduced their own advanced AI systems.
A notable innovation with GPT-5 is the integration of a “reasoning model” into the free version of ChatGPT for the first time. Unlike previous iterations, a reasoning model is designed to dedicate more processing time to “thinking” through intricate problems before formulating a response. Nick Turley, OpenAI’s vice president overseeing ChatGPT, highlighted the significance of this, stating, “For most people on ChatGPT, this is their first introduction to reasoning. It just knows when to ‘think.’” This enhancement is expected to make the chatbot’s interactions more coherent and reliable.
OpenAI claims that GPT-5 offers a more human-like interaction experience and empowers even novice users to create simple software applications from straightforward text prompts. As an illustration, one OpenAI engineer reportedly used the system to generate an online app for learning French within minutes.
Sam Altman views GPT-5 as a “significant step” towards the ambitious ultimate goal shared by OpenAI and its rivals: artificial general intelligence (AGI). AGI refers to a hypothetical machine capable of performing any intellectual task that a human brain can. However, Altman also acknowledged that GPT-5 still lacks many of the critical components necessary to achieve true AGI, a sentiment echoed by many experts who believe there is no clear path to developing such a system yet.
In a recent shift from its historically guarded approach, OpenAI has begun “open sourcing” some of its other AI models designed to power online chatbots. This involves freely sharing the technology with researchers and businesses globally, a move that contrasts with the company’s previous strategy of keeping most of its innovations under wraps since ChatGPT’s debut three years ago. OpenAI hopes that by making these open-source models available, it will encourage users to eventually adopt its more powerful, paid products.
Beyond its free internet-based chatbot, OpenAI offers a more robust version for a monthly subscription of $20 and sells a diverse range of AI technologies to businesses and independent software developers. Despite its rapid growth and technological advancements, the company is not yet profitable. OpenAI aims to raise $40 billion this year and is on track to generate revenues of $20 billion by the end of the year, signaling its aggressive expansion plans in the burgeoning AI market.