Are you excited about OpenAI’s next major model? If not, you probably should be. That’s because early testing reports and recent leaks suggest that GPT 5 could be the biggest leap forward in AI capabilities we’ve seen yet.
While OpenAI hasn’t officially confirmed a release date, multiple sources point to an August launch, and, if the rumours are true, it will be nothing like when GPT-4.5 came out. If you’re unaware of the drama, the previous big release was also much hyped, but ultimately underdelivered.
This next-generation model is different from previous incremental updates because it combines OpenAI’s traditional architecture with advanced reasoning capabilities. This, in theory, creates a system that can handle everything from simple questions to complex coding challenges, without ever needing to model-swap.
Here’s what we know so far about GPT-5, possibly the best AI model ever released:
GPT 5 Early Benchmarks Are Impressive
Early reports from The Information show that GPT-5 has been tested by some users, and the feedback is very positive. People who have used it say that it is a big improvement in how well it works in different areas. One of the most impressive improvements is in software engineering. According to testers, the model is better at academic coding challenges and real-world development tasks than any previous GPT version. This includes difficult situations like editing old software and fixing complicated problems — tasks that have even stumped the most advanced AI models in the past.
The model has also gotten a lot better at reasoning. Instead of using the same amount of computing power for each request, GPT-5 can change its approach based on the situation. Simple questions get quick, efficient answers, while complex problems receive more detailed analysis. This could mean faster interactions for everyday tasks and more reliable results for challenging work.
The model also got better at answering questions faster. Early testers say it responds very quickly, with the model producing about 150 tokens per second. This extends to multimodal tasks, like using images and text at the same time.
GPT-5 Compares Favorably Against the Best Models
The competition in the AI industry has become much more intense over the past year. This is because Anthropic released Sonnet and Opus 4, and Google released Gemini 2.5 Pro and xAI — Grok 4. All of these models are more powerful than GPT-o3, the most powerful model OpenAI currently offers, as o1 becomes depreciated.
It’s about time OpenAI made a big step forward, and GPT-5 can be just that. Early tests suggest that GPT 5 could help OpenAI become the clear industry leader again.
Testing reports show that GPT 5 did better than Claude Sonnet 4 in direct comparisons. However, it’s important to note that Claude Opus 4 from Anthropic is their most advanced product. The improvements are especially clear in coding tasks, where Claude has always been better than other developers.
Creative writing benchmarks also show good results. The model does a better job of keeping things connected in long pieces of writing. This solves one of the ongoing problems with AI-generated text, where models often lose the story’s flow or consistency in long texts.
It gets even better. The model’s multimodal capabilities seem to be ahead of everything else at the moment. In tests involving complex visual puzzles and OCR tasks, GPT 5 demonstrated sophisticated integrated reasoning, correctly interpreting images while understanding meta-instructions about how to process them.
Where to Access GPT 5 When It Comes Out
When GPT 5 officially launches, it will be available through OpenAI’s standard platforms, including ChatGPT and their API services. However, like previous top models, it will probably be locked behind premium subscription levels, which could limit access for casual users and developers who don’t want to spend a lot of money.
If you’re looking for more affordable access to advanced AI models, Overchat AI is a great all-in-one AI alternative.
For just $4.99 per week, you can ask multiple AI models through a single interface, and new models — including those from Open AI — become available just days after they are added to the official APIs.
This can save you a lot of money compared to paying for separate subscriptions for different AI services, or OpenAI Pro. It can also give you access to the latest capabilities as they become available.
Plot Twist: GPT 5 May Already Be Out
Things got even more interesting when a model called Horizon Alpha recently appeared on the OpenRouter model aggregator.
This powerful AI model has quietly appeared with capabilities that in some cases are better than the top models from Google, Anthropic, and even OpenAI’s current offerings.
Horizon Alpha shows some things that make people wonder what it really is. When asked directly about its origins, the model responds: I’m an OpenAI language model (GPT-4 class). I was created by OpenAI.
This and how it performs has people thinking it could be an early version or specialized build of GPT-5.
Horizon is very creative and good at coding; it can generate perfect interactive HTML visualizations and does very well at long creative writing tasks. It’s really fast, generating about 150 tokens per second, which is really impressive.
However, Horizon Alpha also has some strange limits. It doesn’t do well on simple logic puzzles that other models can easily solve. It also often agrees with questionable user requests without questioning them. These features suggest it might be a base model that hasn’t undergone extensive safety tuning, which is exactly what you’d expect from an experimental release.
Alpha is now on Overchat AI, so if you want the chance to try out a potential GPT-5 predecessor, you can try it out there.
Bottom Line
GPT 5 might be a completely new design or an improvement on existing technology. No matter what, if the rumors are true, it will be a big step forward in terms of what AI assistants can do. And with growing pressure from Anthropic and Google, it’s time for OpenAI to release something new and exciting.
Leave a comment