OpenAI has officially announced GPT-5, the latest version of the AI behind ChatGPT. Its more than two-year gap since the last release, GPT-4, was launched back in March 2023.
For many, this is a litmus test for how rapidly AI is evolving, or potentially plateauing.
The launch has come on the heels of a new version of its competitor Anthropic’s chatbot, called Claude, once again highlighting the breakneck pace of AI development.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, referted GPT-5 as a ‘big step’ towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), AGI is AI that can perform most tasks equally as well as or better than humans.
According to Altman, GPT-5 is vastly more useful and user-friendly for the 700 million weekly ChatGPT users.
Altman said during the live launch event, “It’s like talking to a super expert in, basically, an unlimited number of topics, on demand.
OpenAI started from its current incarnation as a nonprofit research lab for safe-built AI back in 2015. From there, it has rapidly expanded into a company that is now valued around $300 billion.
The company has struggled in a few areas there was a change in leadership and legal trouble particularly when the board temporarily ousted altman in late 2023. Days later he was back and remains CEO of the company.
OpenAI is developing an official plan to pursue a public benefit corporation. That means it will need to find a balance between profitability and public mission.
Sop has also hit up big bucks to help fund its efforts, in part because operating powerful AI models is costly in computer chips and data centers.
At the same time, GPT-5 is setting high expectations. For a while now, OpenAI has pitched its AI models as tools capable of doing a certain type of work any work that might be worth doing in the economy better than people eventually.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is under scrutiny from state attorneys and a lawsuit from co-founder Elon Musk. Still, OpenAI presses onward with big dreams and big tech.
