GPT-5 is coming to Apple Intelligence soon, but it won’t solve Apple’s biggest AI problem

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  • OpenAI’s GPT-5 model will soon be available alongside Apple Intelligence
  • That means more powerful ChatGPT features on your Apple device
  • But this move may make life harder for Apple’s rumored chatbot

OpenAI has just released its latest GPT-5 artificial intelligence (AI) model, and it’s set to bring a whole host of powerful new features to the ChatGPT chatbot. Thanks to Apple’s integration of ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence, that could bring benefits to a wider set of people than merely ChatGPT users – but it also brings some serious risks to Apple.

When might we see GPT-5 in Apple Intelligence? Well, news outlet 9to5Mac thinks it has the answer. The publication claims that Apple told it that GPT-5 will arrive on Apple devices with the release of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe. That’s due to happen in early September, meaning there’s only about a month to wait before GPT-5 is directly incorporated into Apple’s products.

You'll apparently be able to access GPT-5 in a few different ways on iPhones and Macs. The most obvious being when you use Siri for more complex questions that it can't answer, but also with Apple's Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence, which uses your iPhone's camera to help answer questions about what you're looking at.

The new features in GPT-5 include different personalities (including Cynic, Listener, Nerd, and Robot), fresh theming options, and an improved Voice Mode. Google users will also soon be able to connect their Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts accounts directly to ChatGPT.

GPT-5 comes in a few different sizes, including the regular GPT-5 model, GPT-5 mini, and GPT-5 nano. These offer different levels of reasoning and are all available to free users. If you’re paying $200 a month for ChatGPT Pro, you’ll also get access to the deeper GPT-5 pro and GPT-5 thinking models, which take longer to respond but offer more insightful responses.

The wait goes on

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While ChatGPT can be used in conjunction with Apple Intelligence, you have to specifically invoke it. Most queries to Apple’s AI will use Apple Intelligence, but if there’s something that Apple’s model can’t answer, it will ask if you want to hand off to ChatGPT.

Right now, relying on ChatGPT for more in-depth queries doesn’t reflect particularly well on Apple Intelligence, but there are signs that Apple is working to correct that. The company is reportedly developing its own AI chatbot to rival ChatGPT and others (despite previously telling TechRadar “that was never the goal, and it remains not our primary goal”).

Unfortunately, we don’t know when that chatbot will be ready, which could be why Apple is moving so swiftly to incorporate GPT-5 into Apple Intelligence: it might be an attempt to keep Apple’s AI relevant while the company works on its own solution. But the longer we have to wait – and the more features OpenAI adds to ChatGPT – the higher the expectations will be on Apple’s chatbot, and the harder it will be for Apple Intelligence to eventually usurp its rivals.

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Alex Blake
Alex Blake
Freelance Contributor

Alex Blake has been fooling around with computers since the early 1990s, and since that time he's learned a thing or two about tech. No more than two things, though. That's all his brain can hold. As well as TechRadar, Alex writes for iMore, Digital Trends and Creative Bloq, among others. He was previously commissioning editor at MacFormat magazine. That means he mostly covers the world of Apple and its latest products, but also Windows, computer peripherals, mobile apps, and much more beyond. When not writing, you can find him hiking the English countryside and gaming on his PC.

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