ChatGPT-4.5 is here (for most users), but I think OpenAI’s model selection is now a complete mess

(Image credit: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Following yesterday’s announcement that ChatGPT-4.5 would be rolling out from today, and over the next few days, I was pretty pleased to find it had appeared in my model selector in ChatGPT Plus, however the model selector now looks like a complete mess.

Take a look:

ChatGPT-4.5 on a Mac. — There are now eight different LLMs for ChatGPT Plus users to choose between. (Image credit: OpenAI/APple)

Yes, there are a staggering eight different options to choose from. I appreciate that OpenAI has added handy explainers under each one, like "Great for most questions", or, "Uses advanced reasoning", but that's a hell of a list to wade through and understand.

OpenAI gets it

Annoyingly, OpenAI already knows this isn't a great solution. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted back in February that the company was going to simplify its model selection into something more suitable for consumers, but ChatGPT-4.5 has just arrived and here we are, it's worse than ever.

On X in February, in a post entitled, "OPENAI ROADMAP UPDATE FOR GPT-4.5 and GPT-5", Altman wrote, "We want AI to 'just work' for you; we realize how complicated our model and product offerings have gotten. We hate the model picker as much as you do and want to return to magic unified intelligence."

To be fair, Altman's post did say that after releasing ChatGPT-4.5, "a top goal for us is to unify o-series models and GPT-series models by creating systems that can use all our tools, know when to think for a long time or not, and generally be useful for a very wide range of tasks."

Unfortunately, there is no timescale on how long that will take, and the current LLM (Large Language Model) picker screen is beyond ridiculous. For ChatGPT users on the free plan, things are much simpler – there is only one option called "ChatGPT", and the option to upgrade to Plus.

ChatGPT-4.5 works fine

The good news is that from my initial testing, ChatGPT-4.5 works flawlessly. It feels like it is somewhere between OpenAI's deeper reasoning models like o1 and o3 with a bit of the casual chat of ChatGPT-4o thrown in. It’s fast too, which is good news considering that it has all of ChatGPT Plus’ subscribers that have access to it testing what they can do with the new LLM right now.

OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4.5 as feeling more natural than its predecessor. "It's broader knowledge base, improved ability to follow user intent, and greater 'EQ' make it useful for tasks like improving writing, programming, and solving practical problems. We also expect it to hallucinate less."

Hallucinating, or "making stuff up" as the rest of the world calls it, has been a particular problem for most chatbots so far, so if OpenAI can make significant improvements in that area we'll all be thankful. We'll bring you a more considered appraisal of what ChatGPT-4.5 can do over the next few days.