Sam Altman has discussed the development of the GPT-5 — OpenAI’s much-anticipated artificial intelligence (AI) model. He expressed confidence in GPT-5’s potential to significantly outperform its predecessor, GPT-4.”I expect it (GPT-5) to be a significant leap forward. A lot of the things that GPT-4 gets wrong, you know, can’t do much in the way of reasoning, sometimes just sort of totally goes off the rails and makes a dumb mistake, like even a six-year-old would never make,” Altman said.
Altman compared the current stage of AI models to the early days of the iPhone, suggesting that they are still in their infancy with much potential yet to be unlocked. He indicated that while today’s models, including GPT-5, are relatively small compared to future possibilities, substantial growth and improvement are imminent. This viewpoint marks a departure from his previous stance last year when he suggested that the era of gigantic models might be nearing its end.
Despite his optimism, Altman acknowledged that there is still much work to be done on GPT-5. “We are optimistic, but we still have a lot of work to do on it,” he stated, emphasizing the ongoing efforts to refine the model. He also addressed controversies surrounding AI, particularly content licensing, and highlighted OpenAI’s approach of licensing news content for ChatGPT in exchange for training data.
Altman offered a measured perspective on the impact of AI on the internet and the broader economy. “I think maybe AI is going to not super significantly but somewhat significantly change the way people use the internet,” he said. He suggested that this could lead to an evolution of economic models, underscoring the broader implications of AI beyond just training data.
Altman hinted that GPT-5 is just the start of a series of advancements aimed at building more capable AI systems. This anticipation follows the release of GPT-4o model, which has already impressed with its ability to solve equations and offer emotional, conversational responses. At the time of GPT-4o’s launch, Altman described ChatGPT as “smart, fast, fun, natural, and helpful,” while emphasizing that it remains free to use and ad-free for users.
