OpenAI says GPT-5 is a major upgrade and a step towards AGI: What's new

GPT-5 is now rolling out to all ChatGPT users, offering enhanced performance in writing, coding, and health, along with a unified system, voice upgrades, and custom personalities

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US-based artificial intelligence startup OpenAI has released its new flagship AI model, GPT-5. The model is now rolling out globally to ChatGPT for all users, both paid and free, and brings notable improvements and new capabilities. GPT-5 enhances the AI’s ability to write, code, and hold conversations, while also unifying several model pathways into one intelligent system — one that, according to OpenAI, marks a step closer to achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI).

OpenAI GPT-5: What is new

OpenAI described GPT-5 as the company’s best “AI system” yet. It said that it brings state-of-the-art performance across coding, math, writing, health, visual perception, and more. The model better understands context and adapts its response strategy accordingly — offering faster answers when possible, or taking time for deeper, more thoughtful responses when needed.

 

The company claimed GPT-5 outperforms previous versions not just in benchmarks but also in handling real-world prompts. It reportedly follows instructions more closely and reduces hallucinations compared to earlier models.

OpenAI GPT-5: Availability

OpenAI said that GPT-5 is slowly rolling out to all users on ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, and Free plans worldwide across web, mobile, and desktop. It will also be available to ChatGPT Enterprise and Education subscribers soon.

GPT-5 in ChatGPT: What’s new

Unified system:

GPT-5 simplifies the ChatGPT experience into a single auto-switching model that integrates capabilities of previous versions. This unified system includes a deeper reasoning engine — GPT-5 Thinking — and a real-time router that picks between fast or in-depth responses based on the conversation. 

 

Users on paid tiers can still manually choose GPT-5 or GPT-5 Thinking via the model picker. Pro and Team subscribers also get access to GPT-5 Thinking Pro, which takes a bit longer but delivers greater accuracy for complex tasks.

 

GPT-5 also becomes the new default model for all logged-in users, replacing several older versions, including:

• GPT-4o
• GPT-4.1
• GPT-4.5
• GPT-4.1-mini
• o4-mini
• o4-mini-high
• o3
• o3-pro

When a user opens a conversation that previously used one of these models, ChatGPT will automatically shift it to the closest GPT-5 equivalent. For instance, chats with 4o or 4.1 will now open in GPT-5; chats with o3 will switch to GPT-5 Thinking, and o3-pro will map to GPT-5-Pro (exclusive to Pro and Team users).

Improved performance:

OpenAI said that GPT-5 improves the performance of ChatGPT across its most common use cases: writing, coding, and health.

 

In coding tasks, OpenAI said the model is better at designing and building websites, games, and apps with visually appealing layouts using just a single prompt. It has an improved grasp of elements like spacing, white space, and typography.

 

In writing, GPT-5 is said to handle complex forms more effectively — including unrhymed iambic pentameter and free verse — balancing structure with expressive clarity.

 

For health-related queries, GPT-5 is positioned as the most reliable yet. OpenAI claims it behaves more like a thoughtful partner, asking follow-up questions and flagging concerns to offer more useful and nuanced responses.

Personalities:

With GPT-5, users have access to four new optional ChatGPT personalities in addition to the default. OpenAI describes these personalities as:

• Cynic: Sarcastic and wry, delivers blunt help with wit. Often teases, but provides direct, practical answers when it matters.
• Robot: Precise, efficient, and emotionless, delivering direct answers without extra words.
• Listener: Warm and laid-back, reflecting users thoughts back with calm clarity and light wit.
• Nerd: Playful and curious, explaining concepts clearly while celebrating knowledge and discovery.

Updated ChatGPT Voice:

Voice mode in ChatGPT now works with custom GPTs, and usage limits have been lifted for Plus users and expanded for free-tier users. Additionally, paid users can now give speaking instructions — allowing Voice mode to adapt its pace, tone, and length of response dynamically.