OpenAI debuts latest ChatGPT model, GPT-5, with one-model-to-rule-them-all approach
It will be free to use at launch, with usage limits for free-tier users
[SINGAPORE] OpenAI will roll out GPT-5, the latest version of ChatGPT, on Friday (Aug 8), replacing its existing range of models with a single unified system. Unlike current models – such as 4o, o3 and o4-mini – GPT-5 will not require users to switch between models for different tasks.
Some of these earlier versions were optimised for specific use cases, such as o3 for slower, more deliberate “thinking” processes like coding, and GPT-4 for faster, more conversational workloads like writing.
With GPT-5, users will no longer need to make that choice. The model will determine on its own whether more time is needed to generate a response, said senior OpenAI executives at a virtual media briefing.
“GPT-5 is the first time that I think one of our mainline models has felt like you can ask a legitimate expert – like a PhD-level expert – anything,” said OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman.
“One of the coolest things it can do is write you good, instantaneous software,” he added. “I think this idea of software-on-demand is going to be one of the defining features of the GPT-5 era.”
In a demonstration, the OpenAI team used GPT-5 to code a language learning web app from scratch in under two minutes. The technique, known as “vibe coding”, allows users to build apps without any coding background.
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The new model will be free to use at launch, with usage limits for free-tier users. Subscribers on the Plus and Pro plans will receive higher and unlimited usage limits, respectively.
Executives also said GPT-5 hallucinates less – a term used to describe generative artificial intelligence models producing false or fabricated information – than any previous model OpenAI has released.
Asked whether the coding abilities of GPT-5 would “put coders out of work”, Altman disagreed.
“We see no evidence of that,” he said. Instead, the world has “badly underestimated” the global demand for additional software.
“As we have tools that let software engineers be way more productive – and the cost of creating software comes down – we will find out that the world wants way more software, and there’s more jobs for that,” he added.
Since ChatGPT’s launch in November 2022, the tool has amassed nearly 700 million weekly active users. That figure stood at about 250 million in October 2024, suggesting that usage has almost tripled in less than a year. The tool now has over five million paying business users and four million developers building on its application programming interface.
On a per capita basis, Singapore has the highest proportion of paying users globally. OpenAI announced plans for a Singapore office in October 2024.
This rapid growth has helped drive up OpenAI’s valuation.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that the company is in early stage talks for a stock sale that could value it at US$500 billion – up from the US$300 billion valuation in a March funding round.
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