GPT-5 Is Not Artificial General Intelligence, but Here’s Why It Is Crucial for OpenAI’s Mission

OpenAI unveiled GPT-5, its most advanced AI model to date, on Thursday. While announcing the new model, CEO Sam Altman said GPT-5 is a major leap over previous models, offering increased accuracy in answers and fewer hallucinations. OpenAI’s new model still does not deliver artificial general intelligence, the next chapter in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), but Altman said it lays the groundwork for the company’s vision of a fully functional artificial general intelligence (AGI).

GPT-5 sports better agentic functionality alongside default multimodal capabilities, making it better at handling complex and highly challenging tasks with contextual depth. With enhanced performance across the board, GPT-5 can switch roles almost instantly, which is what experts see the future AGI systems doing. In addition to increased intricacy, GPT-5 is also safer and less risky than its previous counterparts, constituting one of the essential facets for AGI.

Altman is confident that GPT-5 will prove to be a milestone in OpenAI’s journey to AGI. Here are five reasons why.

Major advancements in reasoning and reliability

In his keynote, Altman said GPT-5 has enhanced “thinking” and “reasoning” modes, which it can switch between fast for efficient answers with a deeper understanding of the context. Think of it as a virtual person who does not respond to questions superficially, but more contextually. The new model can solve complex problems faster and with more accuracy, allowing users to ask more challenging questions. The new AI model also exhibits reduced hallucinations and sycophancy, meaning it can be more straightforward in telling if a user is wrong without diluting the accuracy of its answers.

Human-level proficiency

According to Altman, GPT-5 is more like a “PhD-level expert,” a promotion from GPT-4, which he described as a “college student.” His analogy underscores GPT-5’s nuanced expertise across domains like coding, health, and mathematics, among others. A dedicated feature allows the new AI model to generate complex code, provide more helpful and detailed medical advice, and solve complex math problems. These capabilities are at the core of AGI.

Broad use-cases

OpenAI’s new AI model has a wide portfolio of variants, each designed for different levels of tasks with different cost structures. This offers users more flexibility in choosing the right model, showcasing the company’s intent to build general-purpose AI applicable to various industries and scenarios. Customisability is a key aspect of AGI.

Robust Safety

GPT-5 introduces “safe completions,” which the company claims minimises risks in dual-use scenarios. This could help when a prompt is potentially risky, enabling the chatbot to ensure guardrails in responses. The extensive red-teaming makes the model more robust and dependable for critical industries like finance and healthcare.

Even though GPT-5 does not possess AGI attributes, it is an important rung in the ladder, with many deeming it a “stepping stone” in the company’s mission.

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