OpenAI has officially launched GPT-5, the latest iteration of its flagship large language model that powers ChatGPT, opening a new chapter in the generative AI revolution it helped ignite nearly three years ago.
Available immediately to ChatGPT’s 700 million users, GPT-5 brings enhanced capabilities in software development, health, writing, and finance. OpenAI is positioning the model as a transformative tool for enterprises and professionals—one that feels “like asking a PhD-level expert anything,” CEO Sam Altman said during a press briefing.
The launch comes at a pivotal moment for the AI sector, where Big Tech giants—Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft (OpenAI’s key backer)—are collectively investing close to $400 billion this fiscal year in AI infrastructure. The pressure is mounting on AI developers to deliver returns on these massive bets, especially as enterprise adoption has lagged behind enthusiastic consumer uptake.
“Right now, consumers love ChatGPT, but business spending on AI has been weak,” said economics commentator Noah Smith. “That imbalance could challenge the sustainability of this wave of investment.”
OpenAI’s answer is GPT-5’s performance. In live demonstrations, the model showcased its ability to build working software directly from text prompts—a new paradigm the company dubbed “software on demand.” This feature, among others, leverages a new technique called “test-time compute,” where the model uses additional processing power for especially complex problems. This makes GPT-5 the first publicly available AI system to employ such dynamic computing capabilities.
Despite the buzz, early reviewers have described the leap from GPT-4 to GPT-5 as more incremental than revolutionary. While GPT-5 outperforms its predecessor in reasoning and technical tasks, it still lacks autonomous learning—the hallmark of true general intelligence.
GPT-5 also reflects a deeper evolution in OpenAI’s development strategy. After hitting data availability limits and technical bottlenecks in scaling up training runs, the company pivoted toward maximizing inference time (when the model is answering questions) rather than just training scale. Altman emphasized the significance of this shift as part of OpenAI’s long-term mission.
“This model isn’t just smarter—it thinks longer,” Altman said. “We want AI to be universally useful, which means investing in infrastructure that makes this technology accessible everywhere.”
As OpenAI eyes a potential $500 billion valuation, industry insiders see GPT-5 as a litmus test—not just for the company’s technological leadership, but for whether generative AI can finally prove its value to enterprises footing the bill for a high-stakes digital transformation.