GPT-5 Launch: Mixed Reviews on Coding and Analysis Capabilities

Reviewed byNidhi Govil

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OpenAI's GPT-5 receives mixed feedback on its coding and analysis capabilities, with improvements in some areas but unexpected shortcomings in others.

GPT-5 Launch and Initial Reception

OpenAI recently launched GPT-5, its latest large language model, touting significant improvements over its predecessors. The company claimed enhanced instruction following, reduced sycophantic behavior, and improved factual accuracy

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. However, initial user reactions have been mixed, with some expressing disappointment and others noting improvements in specific areas.

Coding Capabilities: A Step Back?

One of the most surprising findings came from testing GPT-5's coding skills. In a series of programming tests, GPT-5 performed poorly compared to its predecessor, GPT-4o. It failed half of the tests, including a simple randomization task that previous versions had no trouble with

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. This unexpected regression in coding ability has led some developers to consider sticking with GPT-4o for now.

Source: ZDNet

Source: ZDNet

Code Analysis: A Silver Lining

Despite the setbacks in coding, GPT-5 showed promise in code analysis tasks. When examining a GitHub repository, GPT-5 demonstrated a deeper understanding of project structure, security measures, and overall architecture compared to earlier versions

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. The Pro version of GPT-5, in particular, provided more comprehensive and detailed analysis, though the differences between models were not as significant as some had anticipated.

Source: ZDNet

Source: ZDNet

Instruction Following and Factual Accuracy

OpenAI claimed improvements in instruction following and factual accuracy. However, real-world testing revealed mixed results. In one example, GPT-5 struggled to follow specific instructions for formatting GPU specifications, requiring multiple attempts to provide the requested information accurately

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. Factual accuracy showed some improvement, but errors were still present in historical data retrieval tasks.

Personality Shift and User Reactions

A notable change in GPT-5 is its less sycophantic behavior. While this addresses previous concerns about the model agreeing too readily with users, some have found the new responses to be overly dry and unengaging

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. This shift has led to mixed reactions, with some users lamenting the loss of the more personable interaction style of previous versions.

Benchmark Performance vs. Real-World Usage

Source: Digital Trends

Source: Digital Trends

OpenAI highlighted GPT-5's impressive performance on various benchmarks, including a 94% score on math tests and 74% on real-world coding tasks

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. However, the disconnect between these benchmark results and user experiences has raised questions about the model's practical applications and the relevance of current evaluation methods.

Ongoing Development and Future Prospects

It's important to note that GPT-5 is still a work in progress. OpenAI has already responded to user feedback by promising to bring back the option to use GPT-4o

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. This suggests that the company is likely to continue iterating and improving the model based on real-world usage and feedback.

As the AI community continues to evaluate GPT-5, it's clear that while the model has made strides in certain areas, it has also introduced new challenges and questions about the direction of large language model development. The coming months will be crucial in determining whether GPT-5 can live up to its initial promises and how it will shape the future of AI-assisted coding and analysis.

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