In one of the most anticipated product launches of all-time, OpenAI has released a major update to ChatGPT, which is currently used by 700 million people — each week — worldwide.
The skinny: With ChatGPT-5, OpenAI is promising a faster, easier, smarter and much more accurate experience – although many long-term users have been turned-off by ChatGPT’s ‘new personality,’ which they find cold and distant.
Either way, as anticipated, ChatGPT-5’s release has dramatically altered the AI landscape.
Here are the Top Ten Takeaways:
*Expect PhD-level Intelligence: No matter what the question, ChatGPT-5 is trained to respond to you on the PhD level. Observes lead writer Angela Yang: “The company said the new model, GPT-5, is its smartest and fastest to date with wide-ranging improvements to ChatGPT’s skills in areas like coding, writing and taking on complex actions.”
*Stick With GPT-5 Thinking for Consistency for Now: ChatGPT’s overhaul comes with a new router, which is programmed to automatically select the best AI engine for your query. It selects a weaker AI engine for your easy questions, for example and a powerful AI engine for tougher questions.
The problem: The router is less-than-perfect, often routing tough questions to a weak AI engine, resulting in disappointing responses. Consequently, the best bet for answers with consistent quality is to use GPT-5 Thinking – even though this AI engine takes longer to respond.
*Feel Free to Interrupt ChatGPT for a Quick Answer: This feature is one of the workarounds when using the slower-responding – but smarter – GPT-5 Thinking. You can click the “Interrupt for Quick Answer” link inside GPT-5 Thinking any time you’re using that AI engine and believe a weaker AI engine can deliver a good enough response.
*Look for Faster Responses: Early adopters report that using ChatGPT-5 is faster overall. Observes Nick Turley, head of product, ChatGPT: “You really get the best of both worlds. You have it reason when it needs to reason, but you don’t have to wait as long.”
*Expect Fewer Hallucinations/Made-up Facts: Early adopters also report ChatGPT-5 is less prone to make-up facts. In fact, sometimes ChatGPT-5 will simply admit it does not have an answer for you. Othertimes, it will ask you follow-up questions to try and clarify your question.
*Even at the Free Level, Get Access to the Most Powerful Version: With ChatGPT-5, even free users get access – albeit limited – to the most powerful AI engine available from its maker, OpenAI. Previously, free users were only given access to weaker AI engines.
*Bank-on Using Advanced Voice Mode for Free, if You Prefer: If you like interacting with ChatGPT using just your voice, you can do so even at the free level now. Plus, those who currently use Advanced Voice with their paid subscription should expect higher usage limits.
*Gear-up for a New ChatGPT Personality: Many early adopters report that GPT-5’s default personality is colder, terser and far less engaging. Overall: GPT-5 is not interested in being your friend. Instead, GPT-5 is optimized to bring back results, get the job done and move on. Period.
While some users prefer this default personality, others have been seriously turned-off.
Observes writer Ryan Whitwam: “On the OpenAI community forums and Reddit, long-time chatters are expressing sorrow at losing access to models like GPT-4o.
“They explain the feeling as ‘mentally devastating,’ and ‘like a buddy of mine has been replaced by a customer service representative.’ These threads are full of people pledging to end their paid subscriptions.”
*Hold-Out for ChatGPT-4o’s Return: Responding to widespread critiques that GPT-5 projects a cold, terse, standoffish personality, its maker OpenAI is promising to bring back ChatGPT-4o as an option for ChatGPT Plus users.
*Check-Out the Excellent, First-Take Video Overviews on GPT-5 Already Available: Fortunately, YouTube is awash with a number of extremely informative videos on what ChatGPT-5 looks like in action. Here are some choice picks:
–Introducing GPT-5: This is the one hour-plus video that ChatGPT’s maker released with the official launch of ChatGPT-5. It’s a great place to start for a detailed overview of all the new features -– albeit from the ‘proud parent’ perspective of ChatGPT-5’s creator.
–7 Big Changes in GPT-5 (With Live Demos): Matt Maher offers an excellent, concise and balanced look at how ChatGPT-5 performs in this 22-minute video. Maher’s take is mostly positive -– but he also includes some reservations about some downsides.
–What People Love and Hate About GPT-5: This 8-minute, AI Daily Brief (AIDB) video offers an unvarnished critique of the new GPT-5. People are jazzed about the new release feel GPT-5’s ability to pick the right AI engine for every question is, on balance, the right move, according to AIDB.
And they also report lightning-quick responses and expect GPT-5’s true power will only be revealed over time.
On the downside: ChatGPT-5’s one-size-fits-all, auto AI engine picker too often picks an engine that is weaker than what’s actually needed, according to AIDB.
–GPT-5 in Microsoft 365 Copilot: Turns-out Microsoft wasted no time embedding GPT-5 as one of the AI engines you can use with its own chatbot, Microsoft Copilot. Click here for the 53-second video.
–10 Things that GPT-5 Changes: The AI Daily Brief offers an extremely thoughtful, 19-minute analysis of how things change long-term now that GPT-5 is live.
–AI Insiders Breakdown the GPT-5 Update: Peter Diamandis and friends – some of the top minds in AI – offer an extremely in-depth examination of the GPT-5 release in this nearly two-hour video.
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–Joe Dysart is editor of RobotWritersAI.com and a tech journalist with 20+ years experience. His work has appeared in 150+ publications, including The New York Times and the Financial Times of London.
