OpenAI Unveils GPT-5: A Game-Changing AI Model with Enhanced Capabilities and Reduced Hallucinations

OpenAI's GPT-5 is now free for all: How to access and everything else we know

GPT-5 is available to everyone: Free, Plus, Pro, and Team/Enterprise/Edu users. There are two kinds of OpenAI models in this world: GPT and reasoning models. The advantages of the former, such as GPT-4o, are that they combine speed and accuracy, while reasoning models such as o3 and o4 take longer to think and use more compute power to produce better answers. OpenAI's latest model, GPT-5, supposedly gives all users access to the best of both models. Also: Gen AI disillusionment looms, according to Gartner's 2025 Hype Cycle report (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) On Thursday, OpenAI finally unveiled the long-awaited GPT-5, the company's next-generation family of models, which it touts as the fastest, smartest, and most capable yet. GPT-5 is a unified system that combines a smart model for most queries and a deeper reasoning model (GPT-5 thinking) for harder problems. If you are wondering exactly what it does and if you should even consider trying it, keep reading. The key differentiator between GPT-5 and other OpenAI models is the real router feature, which allows GPT-5 to automatically understand which model to use based on the conversation, the complexity of the prompt, and more. The router is continuously trained on real signals to understand the best scenario in which to use a model. Once a user hits usage limits, a mini version of each model takes over. Also: Can GPT-5 fix Apple Intelligence? We're about to find out While GPT-4o was an extremely capable model, it was not a reasoning model like o3 and o4; those were limited to paying subscribers. As a result, GPT-5 is an especially big win for free users, who typically did not have access to any of the reasoning models and were, by default, excluded from more advanced models. The GPT-5 family of models is made up of GPT-5, GPT-mini, GPT-5-nano, and GPT-5 Pro. The nuances between these models will mostly be topics that developers or enterprises are concerned with when choosing which models to purchase from the API. However, for most consumers, what you need to know is that GPT-5 will be automatically selected even for free users, and when limits are reached will switch over to GPT-5 mini, a still capable but more lightweight model. GPT-5 Pro is only available to ChatGPT Pro subscribers, which comes at the hefty $200 per month cost. This is the most advanced version of GPT-5, meant for the most challenging and complex tasks -- tasks that the average user likely won't even encounter. As with every model release, the GPT-5 drop was accompanied by benchmark evaluations, in which it earned state-of-the-art scores across math (AIME 2025), coding (SWE-Bench Verified), and multimodal understanding (MMMU). It even performed competitively on Humanity's Last Exam, a newer benchmark with multi-modal questions in over 100 subjects, such as math, science, and the humanities, as seen below. The company claims it is the strongest coding model yet, being able to create websites, apps, and games from simple text prompts. In particular, OpenAI shares that it has shown improvements in complex front‑end generation and debugging larger repositories. Also: Google's Jules AI coding tool exits beta with serious upgrades - and more free tasks Before the model was released, I watched a live demo of the feature, in which the user created a fully functional web app with interactive elements such as flashcards, a quiz with right and wrong answers, and a game from a simple text prompt. The final product looked sleek. As someone who has recent experience building webpages, it would have taken me hours to stylize using JavaScript and CSS. GPT-5 appears to take vibe coding to the next level. Even if you are more of an average GPT-5 user who employs AI for writing, you will still reap these benefits. OpenAI claims GPT-5 is the most capable writing collaborator, being able to better tackle tasks that involve "structural ambiguity" such as free verse. Regardless of what you use ChatGPT to write, you should see improvements. People have been increasingly reliant on ChatGPT for health-related queries because of its ability to conversationally break down medical jargon, which can often be scary and intimidating. Now the experience is optimized with GPT-5, flagging concerns, asking questions, understanding results, prepping you to ask providers questions, and weighing options. Also: ChatGPT can now talk nerdy to you - plus more personalities and other upgrades beyond GPT-5 Remember that GPT-5 does not replace a medical professional. OpenAI noted that the model performed the highest on HealthBench, a benchmark evaluation the company published earlier this year. External benchmarks for how AI performs in medical scenarios are not yet standardized. One of the biggest improvements available in GPT-5 is that the model is more accurate than any previous reasoning model and has fewer hallucinations, according to OpenAI. The company said GPT-5's responses are 45% less likely to contain a factual error than GPT-4o with web search enabled on anonymized prompts, and 80% less likely to contain a factual error than OpenAI o3. This is a big win, as reasoning models go beyond traditional pattern prediction and are invited to "think," which leaves room for error. OpenAI also added new publicly available benchmarks to test factuality, including LongFact and FActScore, in which GPT-5 with thinking showed a significant drop in hallucinations. GPT-5 (with thinking) also communicates more honestly with the user, sharing when a task is impossible or can't be done. This is important because AI models often offer a plausible-sounding answer instead of admitting they don't know, which can increase the circulation of misinformation. For more on the evaluation results, take a look at the system card. Another brand-new safety feature is called "safe completions," which enables ChatGPT to still answer prompts it would typically refuse. Instead, it will answer, but within the safety boundaries defined by OpenAI, and give a clear explanation of when it can't. Lastly, while not entirely a safety issue, the model is less sycophantic, or effusively agreeable, and uses fewer unnecessary emojis. GPT-5 and GPT-5 mini are available today for all Plus, Pro, Team, and Free users, while Enterprise and Edu users will get access next week, OpenAI said. However, subscribers still receive tiered perks. For example, included in the $20 per month subscription, ChatGPT Plus subscribers have "significantly higher usage" limits than free users. Meanwhile, ChatGPT Pro users have unlimited GPT-5 and access to GPT-5 Pro, an even more advanced version of the model included in their $200 per month subscription. OpenAI said Enterprise and Edu users will be given "generous limits." Also: Microsoft rolls out GPT-5 across its Copilot suite - here's where you'll find it GPT-5 will be set as the default model for everyday work, replacing all other models for authenticated users. However, paid users will still have the option to select it under the model picker. OpenAI said free users may not be able to access full reasoning until a few days from now, noting that once free users reach usage limits, they'll be moved to GPT-5 mini. The release of the model is also helpful for developers, as they can benefit from the increased reliability and accuracy. To accommodate this, OpenAI is making GPT-5, GPT-mini, and GPT-5-nano available in the API. Two new parameters, reasoning and verbosity, are also meant to help developers get exactly what they need from their model without overspending. Pro, Plus, and Team users can sign in to ChatGPT to code with GPT-5 in the Codex CLI. The reasoning parameter makes GPT-5 cheaper for tasks that don't require in-depth thinking, and then the verbosity parameter allows developers to fine-tune just how verbose they want GPT-5 to be. The pricing is cheaper than GPT-4o. For more information, you can check the blog post. GPT-5 began rolling out to all Plus, Pro, Team, and Free users upon launch on Thursday. However, the rollouts are gradual, so if you checked immediately and didn't see it, it is worth checking again to see if you now have it. It had not shown up for me on my free, Plus, or Pro account until last night. Do make sure you are signed in. Even though GPT-5 is available to free users, if you don't sign in, you won't have access to the latest features, including GPT-5.

This free ChatGPT feature flew under the radar - but it's a game changer

Advanced voice, now known as ChatGPT voice, replaces Standard Voice Mode. While OpenAI's new large language models (LLMs) in ChatGPT, such as GPT-5, which just launched today, typically steal the spotlight, some of the best gems are found in the less talked-about features, like Advanced Voice Mode. Also: GPT-5 is finally here, and you can access it for free today - no subscription needed (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) During its Summer product release Thursday, OpenAI announced that Advanced Voice Mode, the AI-powered voice assistant that mimics a human conversation, is now available to all users, including free logged-in users, for the first time. The feature will replace Standard Voice Mode on Sept. 9 and is now being referred to as ChatGPT Voice. Also: ChatGPT can now talk nerdy to you - plus more personalities and other upgrades beyond GPT-5 Since the feature launched in September of last year, it has become one of my favorite features, and I reach for it nearly every day. If you are wondering what the new experience will be like, why you should use it, and how it compares to Standard Voice Mode, keep reading below. If you have ever used a voice assistant like Siri and become frustrated that it does not understand what you are asking unless you word it very specifically, AI-powered assistants, such as ChatGPT Voice, address that issue. With ChatGPT Voice, you can pause as you are thinking while speaking without the assistant assuming your train of thought is over or cutting you off. Also: I mapped my iPhone's Control Button to ChatGPT - here are 5 ways I use it every day You can also talk to it like you would a human with non-linear, train-of-thought commands. For example, instead of "What is the weather?" you could say, "I am going on a run today in Brooklyn and am wondering what the weather is like so I know what to wear," and ChatGPT Voice would understand your request. To continue to aid that free-flowing dialogue experience, Advanced Voice supports multi-turn conversations, so you can keep the conversation going as long as you'd like without losing prior context. Another benefit is that it has the context of your surroundings with video and screen share options, which helps the assistant understand its surroundings and use that context to provide more informed and relevant answers. Part of Thursday's wave of updates is that ChatGPT Voice can better adapt to the user, better understanding their instructions and adjusting to their speaking style in the moment. To access it, click the waveform icon next to the text bar on ChatGPT. If it's your first time using it, you can select which voice you want to chat with. Even though it is free to use, it will require you to log into your OpenAI account, which is also free to make. OpenAI also said paid users will still have "much higher usage limits," with no specification of how much exactly. Get the morning's top stories in your inbox each day with our Tech Today newsletter.

This free GPT-5 feature is flying under the radar - but it's a game changer for me

Advanced voice, now known as ChatGPT voice, replaces Standard Voice Mode. While OpenAI's new large language models (LLMs) in ChatGPT, such as GPT-5, which just launched today, typically steal the spotlight, some of the best gems are found in the less talked-about features, like Advanced Voice Mode. Also: GPT-5 is finally here, and you can access it for free today - no subscription needed (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) During its Summer product release Thursday, OpenAI announced that Advanced Voice Mode, the AI-powered voice assistant that mimics a human conversation, is now available to all users, including free logged-in users, for the first time. The feature will replace Standard Voice Mode on Sept. 9 and is now being referred to as ChatGPT Voice. Also: ChatGPT can now talk nerdy to you - plus more personalities and other upgrades beyond GPT-5 Since the feature launched in September of last year, it has become one of my favorite features, and I reach for it nearly every day. If you are wondering what the new experience will be like, why you should use it, and how it compares to Standard Voice Mode, keep reading. If you have ever used a voice assistant like Siri and become frustrated that it does not understand what you are asking unless you word it very specifically, AI-powered assistants, such as ChatGPT Voice, address that issue. With ChatGPT Voice, you can pause as you are thinking while speaking without the assistant assuming your train of thought is over or cutting you off. Also: I mapped my iPhone's Control Button to ChatGPT - here are 5 ways I use it every day You can also talk to it like you would a human with non-linear, train-of-thought commands. For example, instead of "What is the weather?" you could say, "I am going on a run today in Brooklyn and am wondering what the weather is like so I know what to wear," and ChatGPT Voice would understand your request. To continue to aid that free-flowing dialogue experience, Advanced Voice supports multi-turn conversations, so you can keep the conversation going as long as you'd like without losing prior context. Another benefit is that it has the context of your surroundings with video and screen share options, which helps the assistant understand its surroundings and use that context to provide more informed and relevant answers. Part of Thursday's wave of updates is that ChatGPT Voice can better adapt to the user, better understanding their instructions and adjusting to their speaking style in the moment. To access it, click the waveform icon next to the text bar on ChatGPT. If it's your first time using it, you can select which voice you want to chat with. Even though it is free to use, it will require you to log into your OpenAI account, which is also free to make. OpenAI also said paid users will still have "much higher usage limits," with no specification of how much exactly. Get the morning's top stories in your inbox each day with our Tech Today newsletter.

OpenAI promises 80% fewer hallucinations with GPT-5 debut

That totally makes up for the single-digit benchmark gains, right? OpenAI unveiled its most capable model yet on Thursday with the launch of GPT-5. AI hype man and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described it as like talking to your own personal expert that can write applications on demand. "We think this idea of software on demand is going to be one of the defining characteristics of the GPT-5 era," he said, kicking off an over-75-minute presentation packed with code demos. Compared to earlier models, OpenAI says GPT-5 delivers improvements in coding, writing, math, and visual perception, while also cutting down on hallucinations and deceptive behavior. Youtube Video To be clear, GPT-5 isn't one model. It's actually a collection of models to which OpenAI will route prompts based on signals like the user's intent or the request's general complexity. According to OpenAI, simple prompts might be routed to a small, efficient version of the model that can respond quickly without "thinking", while a larger, deeper reasoning model might be used to handle more complex or nuanced tasks. This capability is triggered automatically based on user prompts. Paid users will also have the option of toggling on reasoning functionality permanently if desired. This routing model is apparently being continuously trained on new input signals to make it smarter about which model it routes the request to and when to trigger reasoning functionality. However, OpenAI says it eventually plans to integrate them all into a single model. In addition to being faster, OpenAI says this architecture is more efficient than prior designs. "GPT-5 gets more value out of less thinking time. In our evaluations, GPT-5 -- with thinking -- performs better than OpenAI o3 with 50-80 percent less output tokens across capabilities, including visual reasoning, agentic coding, and graduate-level scientific problem solving," the company wrote in a blog post. ChatGPT Free and Plus users will have access to GPT-5 and GPT-5 mini, while Pro and Enterprise users will have access to a Pro variant, which can reason for longer. Those accessing the models via API will also have access to a Nano version at a reduced cost, alongside the standard and mini models. While OpenAI's presentation was packed with hyperbolic claims and demos about GPT-5 being its smartest model ever, the company's benchmark results told a slightly different story, one of mostly iterative improvements. In the AIME 2025 math bench, GPT-5 Pro eked out a 1.6 point lead over the company's previous flagship o3 model when using tools and a 7.8 point advantage without them. With that said, for free tier users, the new models are a pretty big upgrade over GPT4o, with GPT 5 (non-Pro) managing a 57.5 point advantage. And it was a similar story with the FrontierMath and the HMMT math benches. Similarly, iterative performance gains were observed in GPQA Diamond, a PhD-level science quiz, and Humanity's Last Exam. Across nearly every benchmark suite, GPT-5 managed single-digit leads over last gen's models. One of the most obvious standouts was in Tau2-bench, a conversation agent benchmark where GPT-5's improvements in tool calling and instruction following were on full display. "Benchmarks, they're exciting numbers, but we're starting to saturate them, like when you're moving between 98% and 99% in some benchmark it means you need something else to really capture how great the model is," OpenAI president Greg Brockman admitted. This is no doubt why so much of the presentation was dedicated to demos and testimonials. Speaking of which, one capability Altman was particularly excited about was GPT-5's performance in health-related queries. "One of the top use cases of ChatGPT is health. People use it a lot. You've all seen examples of people getting day-to-day care advice or sometimes even a life saving diagnosis," Altman said. "GPT-5 is the best model ever for health. It empowers you to be more in control of your healthcare journey." Apparently, ChatGPT has usurped WebMD for self-diagnosis. During one testimonial, the company appeared to be suggesting users struggling to make sense of health conditions just upload medical documents to ChatGPT for GPT-5 to figure out. What was it Altman was just saying about feeding ChatGPT sensitive information? While GPT-5's benchmark gains were marginal at best, the models should be less prone to hallucinating, which has become a major problem with models fabricating often convincing information in order to satisfy a user's request. In our tests just this week, OpenAI's (much smaller and less capable) open-source models hallucinated a fictional presidential candidate whom Donald Trump beat in 2024. "GPT-5's responses are around 45 percent less likely to contain a factual error than GPT-4o and when thinking GPT-5's responses are around 80 percent less likely to contain a factual error than OpenAI o3," the company said in a blog post. Along with cutting down on hallucinations, OpenAI also implemented evaluations to test for deceitful behavior on the models' part. "In order to achieve a high reward during training, reasoning models may learn to lie about successfully completing a task or be overly confident about an uncertain answer," the company explained. "GPT-5 more accurately recognizes when tasks can't be completed and communicates its limits clearly." In testing on real-world chat data, OpenAI says it was able to reduce deception rates from 4.8 percent on o3 to 2.1 percent in reasoning responses. Meanwhile, on the topic of safety, OpenAI has implemented new measures to handle potentially dubious prompts on sensitive topics. Rather than guardrails that can be bypassed with clever prompt engineering, the model says GPT-5 will now provide the most complete response possible while staying within an acceptable safety margin. For example, instead of refusing to answer a question about how to ignite a potentially explosive compound, the model might instead direct the user to where they can find the information and issue warnings in response to the request. Alongside the new models, OpenAI is also rolling out four new optional personalities for its chatbot so users can decide exactly how professional or edgy they want their AI assistant to be. At launch, four personalities will be available: cynic, robot, listener, and nerd. These personalities, the model builder notes, are opt-in and are, for the moment, limited to text chat with distinct voice capabilities coming later. "This lets you interact with ChatGPT in a way that's consistent with your own communication style," Mark Chen, Chief Research Officer at OpenAI, said. OpenAI was careful to emphasize that these personalities have been specifically tuned to avoid becoming too sycophantic in their praise of user questions and inputs. OpenAI's GPT-5 family of models is available now on ChatGPT for free, Plus, and Pro users beginning today and will be rolling out to enterprise and educational users next week. Pricing for ChatGPT remains unchanged at $20 a month for the Plus tier and $200 a month for the unlimited Pro tier. Professionals also have the option of accessing the models via API. Full pricing, including cost per input, output and cached tokens can be found here. If the idea of paying for ChatGPT doesn't appeal to you, earlier this week, OpenAI released its first open weights models since GPT-2. Bootnote: This week also saw the release of Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.1, an updated version of the model which showed similarly iterative improvements in coding benchmarks. ®

The New ChatGPT Resets the AI Race

With GPT-5, OpenAI is making its strongest effort yet to hook users. Yesterday evening, Sam Altman shared an image of the Death Star on X. There was no caption on the picture, which showed the world-destroying Star Wars space station rising over an Earth-like planet, but his audience understood the context. In less than 24 hours, OpenAI would release an AI model intended to wipe out all the rest. That model, GPT-5, indeed launched earlier today with all the requisite fanfare. In an announcement video, Altman said that the product will serve as a "legitimate Ph.D.-level expert in anything -- any area you need, on demand -- that can help you with whatever your goals are." He added that, "anyone, pretty soon, will be able to do more than anyone in history could." In more concrete terms, GPT-5 is an upgrade to the ChatGPT interface you're likely already familiar with: a model that's now a bit better at writing, coding, math and science problems, and the like. Of course, Altman has a penchant for hyperbole, and OpenAI -- like the rest of the AI industry -- likes to tout each new model as the best ever. But this particular release feels notable for a few reasons. First, it has been a long wait since the release of GPT-4 in March 2023, just a few months after ChatGPT's debut in November 2022. And second, in that time, OpenAI has become a bona fide tech empire: As of this week, OpenAI now provides enterprise ChatGPT accounts to federal agencies at essentially no cost; its products are also used by nearly every Fortune 500 company; and today Altman announced that roughly 700 million people worldwide use ChatGPT every week. In terms of sheer reach, this is the company's most consequential product announcement, ever. Read: Big Tech's AI endgame is coming into focus As OpenAI has ascended to the scale of a typical tech giant -- as of this week, it is reportedly in talks for a $500 billion valuation -- the firm has also started to act like its corporate rivals. To attract new users and customers (and keep existing ones from turning to other AI products), OpenAI has doubled down on institutional partnerships and polishing its product lineup. Sure, the company still pushes the limits of AI capabilities -- but its products are what keep most consumers and businesses coming back for more. For instance, OpenAI has partnered with Bain & Company, Mattel, Moderna, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Harvard. It has brought on Jony Ive, the designer of the iPhone, to spearhead the creation of physical OpenAI devices. (The Atlantic and OpenAI have a corporate partnership.) GPT-5 achieves state-of-the-art performance on a number of AI benchmarks, according to OpenAI's internal tests, but it is far from a clean sweep: There are a few tests on which competing products such as Google Gemini, Anthropic's Claude, or xAI's Grok outperform, or are just barely below the level of, OpenAI's new top model. The GPT-5 announcement video and launch page also contained a number of errors -- incorrect labels, numbers and colors that made no sense, and missing entries on charts -- that made the program's precise abilities, and the trustworthiness of OpenAI's reporting, hard to discern (and led some observers to joke that perhaps GPT-5 itself had made, or hallucinated, the graphics). Yet that may not matter. OpenAI's animating theme for GPT-5 is user experience, not "intelligence": Its new model is intuitive to use, fast, and efficient; adapts to human preferences and intentions; and easily personalizable. Before it is more intelligent, GPT-5 is more usable -- and more likely to attract and retain users. "The important point is this," Altman said, pinching a thumb and index finger together for emphasis: "We think you will love using GPT-5 much more than any previous AI." In some sense, OpenAI is learning from its greatest success. ChatGPT took off because it effectively redesigned an existing product: GPT-3.5, ChatGPT's original underlying model, was months old by the time the chatbot came out, but it was relatively obscure. Placing essentially the same program within a conversational interface, however, made the model easy to use and obsess over. GPT-4 would eventually provide a new engine -- smarter and more capable -- but this was almost beside the point; to most people, the product was already firmly established as ChatGPT. And, like the original ChatGPT, GPT-5 is free, although nonpaying users have a limit on their usage of this most advanced model -- giving everyone a small taste of OpenAI's ecosystem to open up the possibility they will want, and pay, for more. During the ensuing two-plus years of the AI race, OpenAI has kept up by releasing a slew of more minor models and new features. When Google released a version of Gemini that was extremely fast and cheap, OpenAI did the same; when DeepSeek launched a free and advanced model that could "reason" through complex questions, OpenAI publicly released a still more powerful reasoning system of its own; as Anthropic's Claude Code seemed to corner the AI-coding market, OpenAI came out with the Codex tool for software engineers. The empire's ambitions had no limits. Read: China's DeepSeek surprise But these products were accompanied by a labyrinth of names and uses: GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini and GPT-4.1; o1-mini and o1-pro; o3 and o3-pro and o4-mini; and so on. This was a matter not only of poor branding but of poor design. Despite the numbers, for some uses o3 is better than o4. Users frequently complain that they don't know how to select from OpenAI's models. "We are near the end of this current problem," Altman said on OpenAI's podcast in June. "I am excited to just get to GPT-5 and GPT-6, and I think that'll be easier for people to use." Now OpenAI has arrived at GPT-5, and indeed, the model might be best understood as providing easier and frictionless use -- as an amalgam of all of OpenAI's disparate, discrete advances from the previous two-plus years. GPT-5 "eliminates this choice" among models and their specialties, Mark Chen, OpenAI's chief research officer, said in today's announcement, and that may be the new model's core feature. GPT-5 modulates its approach to your query, using more or less "reasoning" power -- doing the equivalent of selecting among the GPT-4os and o3s and o4s -- depending on what is asked of it. OpenAI is now retiring a large number of its previous, major models. Alongside GPT-5, OpenAI also announced a number of other additions to the ChatGPT experience to "make ChatGPT more personalized," Chen said, "so it's more like your AI." These new features are customizable color schemes, personalities ("cynic," "robot," "listener," "nerd"), and access to Gmail and Google Calendar -- all building on top of the recently added "Memories" feature, through which ChatGPT can pull information from previous chats. These add-ons have little to do with the bot's engine -- how "intelligent" or "capable" it is -- but they will make ChatGPT more customizable, more useful, and perhaps more fun. Businesses can integrate their data, as well. Just as the years of photos and notes on your iPhone make it undesirable to switch to a Google Pixel, or years of using Google Drive make it hard to migrate to Microsoft OneDrive, if ChatGPT morphs from a vanilla bot into your AI or your company's AI, leaving for Gemini or Claude becomes not just burdensome, but a downgrade. At this stage of the AI boom, when every major chatbot is legitimately helpful in numerous ways, benchmarks, science, and rigor feel almost insignificant. What matters is how the chatbot feels -- and, in the case of the Google integrations, that it can span your entire digital life. Before OpenAI builds artificial general intelligence -- a model that can do basically any knowledge work as well as a human, and the first step, in the company's narrative, toward overhauling the economy and curing all disease -- it is aiming to build an artificial general assistant. This is a model that aims to do everything, fit for a company that wants to be everywhere.

ChatGPT 5.0 launch: six times I said "wow" and three times when I said "hmmmm"

ChatGPT 5.0 launch: six times I said "wow" and three times when I said "hmmmm" The OpenAI team, led by Sam Altman, unveiled ChatGPT 5.0 this morning via livestream on YouTube. About 600,000 people watched the launch either live or during the first three hours afterward. While that lags certain space shots and World Cup events, the audience demonstrates tremendous interest in the newest version of ChatGPT. YouTube isn't totally forthcoming with viewership data, but only two or three Apple events have had significantly more people watching their livestream. I wrote this article yesterday previewing ChatGPT 5.0 and pretty much everything that we expected was announced. Here is a link to that article. Below, I will talk about what surprised/impressed me and what made me scratch my head. Wow #1. They have come a long way in 2 1/2 years Many writers including myself, have complained about hallucinations, errors and other flubs. All true. But we also need to take deep breath and acknowledge the tremendous progress that OpenAI has made since the first public version of ChatGPT. That version was more of a toy than tool. The currently available versions -- 4.0, 4.1 and 4.5 -- are very powerful and more useful. If ChatGPT 5.0 lives up to even half of the promises that they made today, it will represent a major jump forward. Wow 1.5 came when Sam Altman said that they now have 700 million users. I applaud their ambition and am reminded of a quote from Leo Burnett who is on the Mount Rushmore of advertising: "When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either." OpenAI is clearly reaching for the stars Wow #2: They are shutting down old models and moving everyone to version 5.0 If you look at the menu at the top of the ChatGPT page, you'll see multiple options for different models. There is a word-or-two about what each model is supposed to be good at. It was always confusing, at least to me. Now they are moving everyone to GPT-5 and are shutting down the older models. This chart summarizes the differences between GPT-4 and GPT-5. Altman said that if GPT-3 was a high school student and GPT-4 was a college student, GPT-5 will operate at a PhD level. This version will be available to all commercial users soon (enterprise and education later). Free users will have their usage capped and will be moved to a less powerful model when they exceed the cap. Wow #3: Fewer hallucinations They stressed that GPT-5 will spend less time in Fantasyland than prior versions. This is welcome news, assuming that it's true. They made reference to percentages better but they didn't show their work. My gut says it will be directionally (and probably significantly) better but not yet perfect. Wow #4: Much stronger voice integration Some people have used voice to access ChatGPT in prior versions. There has clearly been a major effort to elevate voice to the same level as text input. I am not yet clear how much of their usage this will represent but it is definitely a great option. My skepticism is based in part on being overly optimistic about how quickly Alexa would revolutionize commerce for Amazon. I envisioned a world where people in kitchens would be ordering groceries while they cooked but I haven't seen that happen. Typing may still be the preferred input method for many people. Wow #5: More powerful code development This will go into both categories. They tried to demo how easy it is to develop web applications using GPT-5. One fellow "developed" an app to teach his girlfriend how to speak French with his family. It kinda, sorta worked but looked like a high school class project. They claim that coders prefer working in GPT-5 but didn't show their work or sources. They also showed how GPT-5 could help with debugging. Put this in the bucket of "great if it actually happens". Wow #6: Big strides against bad actors First, do no harm. It sounds as if OpenAI is taking its responsibilities to society seriously. There was discussion of how GPT-5 would respond to problematic searches. It will provide more context as to why something is wrong, unethical or dangerous. They are terming this "safe completion". Will be worth continuing to track this over time. Hmmm #1: This felt like a class presentation not a product launch from a major company Maybe Apple and others have spoiled us, but the actual presentation was amateurish. They ran nervous product people on and off of the stage in three minute segments. A lot of the "jokes" felt unscripted and awkward. I know it's about the product not the packaging but it feels like it is time for them to up their game. Hmmm #2: They need help translating their excitement and thoughts into English One very interesting example showed how a parent might help their high schooler with a science report on the Bernoulli effect. So far, so good. The presenter then asked "Wouldn't it be great to have an animation that showed this?" Yes! And, if she had continued in plain English it would have been very great. Instead she said "create an SVG using Canva" and showed a bunch of Python code. There is still an opportunity to make the power of ChatGPT 5.0 more accessible the average user but they need to get better at speaking English . Hmmm #3: They are claiming to have jumped the evolution of AI ahead by two or three years One of the leading AI scientists is Daniel Kokotajlo. He was a top engineer at OpenAI before leaving. He is also the main author of AI 2027 a very well documented and reasoned study of the development path for AI. According to that paper, it will still take two or three years for AI to really do much of a developer's job. OpenAI pretty claimed that they are there with GPT-5. Not sure that I buy this. Again, directionally perhaps. All the way? Not until I see more.

ChatGPT 5 available: Is it really free? How to access it and the 5 different price plans

In a major stride towards the future of artificial intelligence, OpenAI has officially rolled out its latest and most sophisticated large language model, ChatGPT 5. With this launch, the California-based AI research company is redefining how users interact with AI-driven tools in everyday life, professional work, and creative endeavors. Branded by many in the tech space as OpenAI's most ambitious upgrade to date, GPT-5 is equipped to deliver deeper conversations, multimodal engagement, and a fluid user experience across platforms. The launch arrives amid mounting anticipation, following the widespread adoption of previous GPT iterations. Designed atop the cutting-edge GPT-4o (omni) architecture, this version not only promises superior performance but also introduces a suite of enhancements that make artificial intelligence more conversational, intuitive, and integrated. The newest iteration of OpenAI's language model stands out for its ability to handle context with increased precision. Whether the task involves interpreting complex images, engaging in live voice dialogue, or remembering user preferences across sessions, ChatGPT 5 offers a marked leap forward. A defining feature of OpenAI GPT5 is its nuanced emotional intelligence. The AI can now respond to user inputs with more human-like understanding, making it an effective companion for a range of use cases, from education and coding to therapy and entertainment. OpenAI's latest release packs significant upgrades that go well beyond textual interaction. Chatgpt5 introduces: In addition, the interface has undergone a sleek redesign, aligning with OpenAI's goal of making AI interactions more user-friendly and less intimidating for new users. Those eager to try gpt-5 can do so through the official ChatGPT mobile app or desktop web interface. Once signed in, users simply need to select the GPT-4o model to engage with the most current version. Basic access remains free and grants users the ability to interact with GPT-5's text and voice functionalities. However, more sophisticated tools such as file analysis, custom agents, image generation, and code debugging are housed behind paywalls, available through OpenAI's premium subscription plans, as per Open AI. This question has lingered since the moment of announcement -- and the answer is a nuanced one. OpenAI currently offers five distinct pricing tiers to accommodate varied user needs: The most accessible tier offers a limited but functional experience. Users can chat with chat gpt 5, use voice mode, and perform web-based queries. Some restrictions apply to the frequency and complexity of usage, especially during peak hours. For individual users who require more muscle, the Plus plan allows greater interaction volume, access to Sora video previews, and an expanded memory framework. Advanced voice features are also included in this tier. Geared toward developers, creators, and small businesses, the Pro tier includes full-scale access to GPT-5 Pro, extended computational support, and early access to experimental features. It also includes high-volume file processing, custom GPTs, and enhanced agent interactivity. Designed for collaborative settings, this plan is ideal for startups, research groups, or classrooms. Features include usage analytics, team file sharing, and admin controls. Annual billing at $25 per user offers savings over the monthly rate. Aimed at large-scale deployments, this offering includes API access, high-security environments, 24/7 support, and custom infrastructure integration. Interested organisations must contact OpenAI directly for a tailored quote. Voice mode in openai gpt5 is no longer a gimmick. OpenAI has poured significant resources into developing lifelike voice interaction capabilities. Users can now hold conversations that feel natural, with the AI responding fluidly in real time. This feature is set to challenge existing voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, many of which rely on far less advanced models. A key selling point of chatgpt5 lies in its memory system. Once activated by the user, this memory stores contextual data such as preferred writing style, frequently asked questions, or past discussions. This level of customisation ensures that the AI grows more useful over time, a feature particularly advantageous for long-term research projects, therapy sessions, or academic tutoring. Importantly, OpenAI has reaffirmed its commitment to privacy. Memory can be turned off at any time, and users have control over what data is stored or deleted. By offering GPT-5 under a freemium model, OpenAI attempts to balance accessibility with revenue generation. While critics argue that the most valuable tools remain paywalled, many in the tech community acknowledge the generosity of the free tier, especially in comparison to similar offerings from rival firms. This strategy not only broadens the reach of GPT-5 across the globe but also fosters AI literacy among the public, a mission that OpenAI has consistently promoted since its inception. ChatGPT 5 is OpenAI's latest large language model, built on the advanced GPT-4o (omni) architecture. It introduces multimodal capabilities (text, voice, image, and file interaction), enhanced memory, and improved real-time reasoning, offering a more human-like and integrated AI experience. Yes, ChatGPT 5 is available for free, but with limited access