It's getting pretty toasty outside, causing me to sweat buckets at my desk, and get excited for the next major ChatGPT launch that is expected to arrive very soon.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, said ChatGPT-5 is "probably coming sometime this summer."
As I write this article on the need for air conditioning in the UK, I'm pretty certain the summer has indeed arrived. So, where's the next iteration of GPT?
If, like most of the wider population, you don't follow the almost daily updates that happen in the world of AI, you're probably wondering what ChatGPT-5 even is, and why you should care about it?
Well, while we don't know much about what the future of ChatGPT has in store for us, quotes from Altman and co give us an insight.
No more confusion
Information is pretty scarce surrounding ChatGPT-5, although we've had tidbits of information over the last few months that give us a rough idea of what to expect when the new AI model launches in the coming months.
For starters, it'll obviously be the evolution of ChatGPT 4o's capabilities, allowing users to experience more powerful AI tools for everyday tasks. We won't know how much more powerful ChatGPT-5 will be compared to its predecessor until OpenAI launches the new model, and considering how big a deal the next release is likely to be, I'd suspect that happens in a livestream similar to 12 Days of OpenAI from December last year.
The huge improvement we know is definitely coming with ChatGPT-5 is the streamlining of the AI selection process, something Sam Altman called "magic unified intelligence" back in February.
Altman's roadmap shared on X is the best insight we've got into ChatGPT yet, where he said, "In both ChatGPT and our API, we will release GPT-5 as a system that integrates a lot of our technology, including o3. We will no longer ship o3 as a standalone model."
"The free tier of ChatGPT will get unlimited chat access to GPT-5 at the standard intelligence setting, subject to abuse thresholds. ChatGPT Plus subscribers will be able to run GPT-5 at a higher level of intelligence, and Pro subscribers will be able to run GPT-5 at an even higher level of intelligence. These models will incorporate voice, canvas, search, deep research, and more."
"I think we will be out of that whole mess soon"
Last month, Altman sat down for the first episode of the official OpenAI podcaqst in which he detailed the expected release date of GPT-5 as sometime in the Northern Hemisphere's summer months.
In the podcast, Altman said, "It used to be much clearer. We would train a model and then put it out, and then train another model and put it out. Now the systems have gotten much more complex, and we continually post train them to make them better.
If we keep updating GPT-5, making it better and better, do we keep calling it GPT-5 like we do with 4o or do we call those 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 so you know about the version changes?"
He goes on to say that he doesn't have an answer to that question just yet, but agrees there's a better way to name OpenAI's products than the way the company handled 4o.
Altman adds, "I am excited to just get to GPT-5 and GPT-6, and I think that'll be easier for people to use, and you won't have to think, do I want o4-mini-high or o3 or o4?"
At the end of the section of the podcast where he discusses the upcoming GPT-5 model, Altman prolaimes "I think we will be out of that whole mess soon."
I hope so too, Sam, it's getting increasingly difficult to write about ChatGPT's wide variety of models when not everyone understands the differences.
As far as I'm concerned, ChatGPT needs a branding overhaul where models are made for the general public to understand and truly use to their potential. GPT-5 might be the turning point that elevates AI to the next level, not just because of its power, but because of its way of streamlining the whole process.
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