OpenAI has released the fifth generation of the artificial intelligence technology that powers ChatGPT, a product update that's being closely watched as a measure of whether generative AI is advancing rapidly or hitting a plateau.
GPT-5 arrives more than two years after the March 2023 release of GPT-4, bookending a period of intense commercial investment, hype and worry over AI's capabilities.
In anticipation, rival Anthropic released the latest version of its own chatbot, Claude, earlier in the week.
Expectations are high for the newest version of OpenAI's flagship model because the San Francisco company has long positioned its technical advancements as a path toward artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a technology that is supposed to surpass humans at economically valuable work.
It is also trying to raise huge amounts of money to get there, in part to pay for the costly computer chips and data centres needed to build and run the technology.
OpenAI started in 2015 as a nonprofit research laboratory to safely build AGI and has since incorporated a for-profit company with a valuation that has grown to USD 300 billion. The company has tried to change its structure since the nonprofit board ousted its CEO Sam Altman in November 2023.
He was reinstated days later and continues to lead OpenAI.
It has run into hurdles escaping its nonprofit roots, including scrutiny from the attorneys general in California and Delaware, who have oversight of nonprofits, and a lawsuit by Elon Musk, an early donor to and founder of OpenAI.
Most recently, OpenAI has said it will turn its for-profit company into a public benefit corporation, which must balance the interests of shareholders and its mission.
“We are introducing GPT‑5, our best AI system yet. GPT‑5 is a significant leap in intelligence over all our previous models, featuring state-of-the-art performance across coding, math, writing, health, visual perception, and more. It is a unified system that knows when to respond quickly and when to think longer to provide expert-level responses,” according to the company.
GPT‑5 is available to all users, with Plus subscribers getting more usage, and Pro subscribers getting access to GPT‑5 pro, a version with extended reasoning for even more comprehensive and accurate answers.
“GPT‑5 is a unified system with a smart, efficient model that answers most questions, a deeper reasoning model (GPT‑5 thinking) for harder problems, and a real‑time router that quickly decides which to use based on conversation type, complexity, tool needs, and your explicit intent,” the company noted.
India is OpenAI’s second-largest market in the world after the US, and it may well become its biggest market in the near future, according to its CEO Sam Altman.
OpenAI sees India as a rapidly growing market, with plans to enhance AI accessibility and affordability, he added.
“It’s incredibly fast-growing, but what users are doing with AI, what citizens of India are doing with AI, is really quite remarkable,” Altman said while launching GPT-5, the latest version of the artificial intelligence system that powers ChatGPT.
He further stated that the company was working with local partners to make its products more effective and affordable for Indian users, and he plans to visit the country in September.
In June, OpenAI, in partnership with the government’s IndiaAI mission, on Thursday launched the first international expansion of its education platform, that will help expand access to AI skills training across the country.
The initiative, called ‘OpenAI Academy India’, aims to broaden access to AI education and tools, tapping into India’s fast-growing developer community, digital infrastructure, and network of startups and innovators.
It will support the IndiaAI Mission’s 'FutureSkills' pillar by expanding access to AI skills training for a wide range of learners — students, developers, educators, civil servants, nonprofit leaders, and small business owners. “India is one of the most dynamic countries in the world for AI development, with adoption and innovation accelerating at remarkable speed,” said Jason Kwon, Chief Strategy Officer, OpenAI.
(With inputs from Associated Press, IANS)