GPT-5: Updates, improvements and what it means for Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI has unveiled GPT-5, its most advanced language model, which introduces a key change: the unification of its traditional models and its “o” series of reasoning models.

Now, the system automatically chooses whether to respond with a fast model or a deeper, more analytical one, optimising speed, accuracy and user experience without requiring any intervention from the user.

This improvement is already available on the ChatGPT web interface. Paying users have immediate access, while free-tier users will have to wait a few days to enjoy all the capabilities.

In 2024, the o1 model represented a technological leap by introducing intermediate reasoning to solve complex problems.

GPT-5, on the other hand, is an evolution focused on usability, reliability and efficiency. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, compared it to Apple’s Retina displays: they did not transform computing, but they did raise the quality of the experience.

✻ Automatic reasoning: the system decides the optimal mode for each query.

✻ Greater speed: faster than the o-series, with lower cost and environmental impact.

✻ Fewer hallucinations: significantly reduces factual errors, improving safety and trust.

✻ Benchmark performance: sets a new state of the art in tests such as SWE-Bench and Aider Polyglot, although the community notes these benchmarks are becoming “saturated” and measurable advances will be increasingly harder to demonstrate.

OpenAI describes GPT-5 as “a step closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI)”.
For many experts, it is an incremental improvement, not a disruption.
Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT, sums it up: “The vibes of this model are really good, and people are going to feel that.” Still, the promise of truly general AI remains a medium-term goal.

It is not always about “the next big revolution”, but about building tools that are increasingly reliable, efficient and accessible. GPT-5 seems to be heading precisely in that direction. Is GPT-5 the future or just an “update” to buy time?

At Mática Partners we continue to monitor AI’s evolution to help businesses make the most of it, with reliability and control.