OpenAI releases GPT-5 with major upgrades in speed and accuracy

According to company head Sam Altman, GPT-5 is a true breakthrough compared to previous generations. He compared it to something that he "just don't wanna ever have to go back from," like the first iPhone with a Retina display.

"GPT-3 sort of felt like talking to a high school student. You could ask it a question. Maybe you'd get a right answer, maybe you'd get something crazy. GPT-4 felt like you're talking to a college student. GPT-5 is the first time that it really feels like talking to a PhD-level expert," Altman said at a press briefing.

Smarter, faster, more accurate

OpenAI states that GPT-5 has higher accuracy, responds faster, and makes fewer mistakes. Despite ChatGPT's weekly audience approaching 700 million users, OpenAI has not had the most advanced model on the market since the release of GPT-4. The company is confident that GPT-5 will restore its leadership, especially in key areas.

"This is the best model in the world at coding. This is the best model in the world at writing, the best model in the world at health care, and a long list of things beyond that," Sam Altman claims.

What's new in GPT-5

One of the first changes was the removal of manual model selection in ChatGPT. Now GPT-5 operates as a single system, with a built-in intelligent router that automatically switches to a more advanced version of the model when necessary — for example, if the user asks it to "think hard."

Altman admitted that the previous model selection interface was a real puzzle.

Coding with GPT-5 (photo: OpenAI)

Access and capabilities

GPT-5 is now available to all ChatGPT users. However, free accounts have a limit on the number of requests, after which the model will automatically switch to a lighter version — GPT-5 mini. For developers, OpenAI will offer three versions:

• GPT-5

• GPT-5 mini

• GPT-5 nano — with different performance levels and pricing.

ChatGPT will also introduce new model personalities — "Cynic", "Robot", "Listener", and "Nerd" — and for individual chats, users will now be able to choose a custom interface color.

A new stage in software development

OpenAI believes GPT-5 will usher in the era of so-called "software on demand." In the company's tests, the new model outperformed all competitors on key programming benchmarks — SWE-Bench, SWE-Lancer, and Aider Polyglot.

At the press briefing, OpenAI's head of post-training, Yann Dubois, demonstrated how GPT-5 created a website for learning French with an interactive game in just seconds. The model independently wrote hundreds of lines of code, and everything worked correctly during the live Zoom demonstration.