GPT-5 is OpenAI’s latest flagship AI model released on August 7, 2025 that replaces earlier versions like GPT-4.
It operates as a unified system, not separate models for different tasks.
The model uses three components together.
A smart, efficient model handles most everyday questions, while a deeper reasoning model called “GPT-5 thinking” tackles harder problems.
A real-time router decides which approach to use based on your question’s complexity.
It builds on the success of GPT-4 and GPT-4o, offering smarter reasoning, larger context windows, better coding skills, and stronger domain expertise.
The system decides whether your query needs speed, deep reasoning, or multimodal tools, giving you the best result seamlessly.
How the routing system works
The router analyzes your conversation, the complexity of your question, and any tools needed.
You can guide this choice by saying phrases like "think hard about this" in your prompt.
The routing system improves over time.
It learns from real user interactions and feedback on satisfaction with responses.
Key highlights of GPT-5
- Massive context window
Handles up to 256,000 tokens. This means GPT-5 can read entire research papers, debug full codebases, or sustain long conversations without forgetting earlier context. - Coding powerhouse
Outperforms GPT-4 in benchmarks like SWE-Bench Verified (75%+) and Aider Polyglot (88%). It can build user interfaces, generate complete applications, and debug large repositories with awareness of style and usability. - Better reasoning and safety
GPT-5 reduces hallucinations and avoids empty refusals. It offers safer, context-aware completions, especially when handling sensitive or complex queries. - Variants for flexibility
- GPT-5 (standard): Deep reasoning and complex tasks
- GPT-5-mini: Lower cost and latency for everyday tasks
- GPT-5-nano: Ultra-fast, ideal for high-throughput or embedded systems
- Affordable scaling
Pricing ranges from $0.05 to $10 per million tokens, making GPT-5 cheaper to deploy at scale compared to rivals.
How GPT-5 is being used today
- Microsoft Copilot: Integrated into Word, Excel, Teams, and Outlook for smarter insights and automation.
- VS Code & GitHub Copilot: Developers get more accurate, design-aware code generation.
- Education & research: Lesson planning, academic writing, and data analysis are now richer and more context-aware.
- Healthcare: Outperforms human experts on diagnostic benchmarks, proactively asking clarifying questions.
- Enterprise automation: Handles long documents, email workflows, and multi-step reasoning for knowledge workers.
Performance benchmarks
| Domain | GPT-4 | GPT-5 |
|---|---|---|
| SWE-Bench Verified | 65% | 75%+ |
| Aider Polyglot | 70% | 88% |
| Health diagnostics | 82% | 90%+ |
| Research generation | 79% | 91% |
| Long-context reasoning | Limited | Near-perfect |
These numbers show GPT-5 is closing the gap with human experts across key fields.
Release timeline and availability
OpenAI launched GPT-5 on August 7, 2025, making it available worldwide.
You can access GPT-5 through ChatGPT, where it now serves as the default model.
The company released multiple variants to serve different needs:
- GPT-5 Standard: Balances power and speed
- GPT-5 Mini: Faster, cheaper option for casual use
- GPT-5 Pro: Enhanced reasoning mode for professionals
- GPT-5 Nano: Lightweight version for mobile devices
This tiered approach gives you flexibility to choose the right capability for your tasks.
Core innovations and features
GPT-5 introduces breakthrough improvements that make it more reliable, honest, and useful for real-world tasks.
Reduced hallucinations and better accuracy
The model is much less likely to invent false information.
GPT-5’s responses contain about 45% fewer factual errors than GPT-4o when web search is enabled.
In thinking mode, error rates drop even further.
GPT-5 thinking produces about 80% fewer factual errors than OpenAI’s previous reasoning model, o3.
On challenging factuality benchmarks, the model produced about six times fewer hallucinations than o3.
Improved honesty and transparency
GPT-5 recognizes when it can’t complete a task or when information is missing.
In tests where images were missing, GPT-5 gave confident answers about non-existent images only 9% of the time, compared to 86.7% for o3.
The model reduced deception rates from 4.8% to 2.1% in real ChatGPT-style conversations.
When it refuses a request, GPT-5 explains why and suggests safe alternatives.
Safe completions approach
OpenAI uses a new safety training method called “safe completions” for GPT-5.
Instead of simply refusing risky requests, the model provides helpful information while staying within safety boundaries.
This approach works well for topics like virology.
The model answers high-level questions safely, avoiding details that could cause harm.
More natural conversations
GPT-5 feels more like talking to a real person.
It avoids unnecessary emojis and provides thoughtful follow-up questions.
The model reduced overly flattering responses from 14.5% to less than 6% in tests.
This leads to more honest, balanced conversations without sacrificing helpfulness.
Performance in key domains
GPT-5 brings improvements across writing, coding, health information, and visual understanding.
Writing capabilities
GPT-5 helps turn rough ideas into well-structured content with better flow than previous models.
It handles complex writing challenges reliably.
The model maintains specific forms like unrhymed iambic pentameter or creates natural-flowing free verse while keeping meaning clear.
For daily tasks, GPT-5 improves drafting and editing of reports, emails, and memos.
It understands context better and adapts its style to your needs.
Coding and vibe coding
GPT-5 transforms software development with its enhanced coding capabilities. The model achieves 88% on Aider Polyglot benchmarks and 74.9% on SWE-bench Verified, making it one of the smartest models for coding tasks.
Vibe Coding lets you create complete web applications from simple text prompts. You can describe what you want, and GPT-5 generates fully functional responsive websites without needing detailed technical specifications.
The model excels at debugging and code quality improvements. Companies like Cursor, Windsurf, and Vercel praise GPT-5’s coding capabilities, noting superior performance in frontend development and tool calling accuracy.
GPT-5 handles complex, multi-step coding tasks end-to-end. It can chain dozens of tool calls reliably, making it ideal for enterprise-level development projects.
Mathematics and science benchmarks
GPT-5 sets new standards in mathematical reasoning and scientific problem-solving.
The model achieves 94.6% accuracy on AIME 2025 advanced mathematics problems without using external tools.
This performance marks a significant leap from previous models. You can rely on GPT-5 for complex mathematical calculations, proofs, and multi-step problem solving.
The model excels at GPQA benchmarks, which test graduate-level scientific knowledge. It demonstrates deep understanding across physics, chemistry, biology, and other scientific domains.
Scientific research benefits from GPT-5’s enhanced reasoning capabilities. The model acts as a proactive thought partner for research questions and hypothesis development.
Health and medical information
GPT-5 answers health-related questions more accurately while reminding users it doesn’t replace professionals.
The model scores higher than any previous model on HealthBench, which uses realistic medical scenarios.
It acts as an active thought partner for health questions.
GPT-5 flags concerns, asks clarifying questions, and tailors responses to your context and knowledge level.
The model adapts health advice to your location and situation for safer, more relevant answers.
Visual and multimodal understanding
GPT-5 excels at visual, video-based, spatial, and scientific reasoning tasks.
What users are saying
Feedback from early adopters has been mixed but insightful:
- Positive:
- “Finally, a model that feels like it can manage entire projects.”
- “Debugging with GPT-5 is smoother, and the UIs it generates are cleaner.”
- “Health and education tasks feel proactive—GPT-5 asks the right follow-up questions.”
- Critical:
- Some users say GPT-5 feels “flat” or “too corporate,” especially compared to the warmer tone of GPT-4o.
- Router bugs at launch made the model feel inconsistent until fixed.
- Progress feels “incremental” for casual users, though power users see clear upgrades.
Strengths and limitations
| Strengths | Limitations |
|---|---|
| Handles 256k tokens of context | Tone sometimes feels flat or robotic |
| Best coding model so far | Accuracy still trails Anthropic Opus 4.1 in some tests |
| Safer completions with nuance | Router bugs caused frustration at launch |
| Affordable variants (mini/nano) | Creativity feels less vibrant than GPT-4o |
| Enterprise-ready integrations | Users want more personalization options |
Why GPT-5 matters
For developers: You can build smarter agents, scalable apps, and multi-tool workflows without hitting old limits.
For businesses: GPT-5 is cheaper, safer, and enterprise-ready, making it easier to deploy across teams.
For educators and creators: GPT-5 offers longer context, richer reasoning, and stronger writing support, whether you’re preparing lessons, drafting research, or exploring new creative formats.
GPT-5 FAQs
What is GPT-5 capable of?
GPT-5 can handle massive context windows (up to 256k tokens), write and debug large codebases, design front-end UIs, generate creative writing in structured formats, and even perform PhD-level reasoning in health, education, and ethics.
It also integrates smoothly with tools and APIs, allowing real workflows beyond simple Q&A.
Is GPT-5 in development?
No. GPT-5 was officially released on August 7, 2025.
It is already available inside ChatGPT, OpenAI API, Microsoft Copilot, Azure AI Foundry, and GitHub Copilot. OpenAI continues to refine the model with personalization updates and bug fixes.
How will GPT-5 be different from GPT-4?
GPT-5 improves on GPT-4 in several ways:
- Unified model routing: No need to manually pick between “fast” or “smart” models. GPT-5 decides automatically.
- Higher accuracy: Reduced hallucinations and better adherence to instructions.
- Coding dominance: Outperforms GPT-4 on SWE-Bench and Aider Polyglot coding benchmarks.
- Safer completions: Handles sensitive queries with more nuance.
- Personalization: Supports tone and persona modes, like “Cynic” or “Listener,” which GPT-4 lacked.
How can I access GPT-5?
You can access GPT-5 through:
- ChatGPT (Free, Plus, Pro, and Business tiers)
- OpenAI API for developers
- Microsoft Copilot across Office apps like Word, Excel, and Teams
- VS Code and GitHub Copilot for coding assistance
Free users get limited access, while Plus, Pro, and Business tiers offer more queries, deeper reasoning models, and integrations like Gmail and Calendar.
Does GPT-5 still make mistakes?
Yes. GPT-5 is significantly more accurate but still prone to hallucinations in rare or niche cases. It can produce overconfident answers that require human review — especially in legal, medical, or financial contexts.
What do users think of GPT-5?
Feedback has been mixed:
- Positive: Praised for better reasoning, faster code generation, and safer responses.
- Critical: Some say it feels “flat” or “too corporate” compared to GPT-4o, and router bugs at launch made results inconsistent.
OpenAI has promised more personality customization and restored some legacy models after community feedback.
Is GPT-5 multimodal?
Yes. GPT-5 was trained with multimodal capabilities from the ground up, meaning it can handle text and image inputs. It also coordinates parallel tool use, making it stronger in workflow automation than GPT-4.
How much does GPT-5 cost?
Pricing depends on how you use it:
- ChatGPT Free: Limited daily access.
- ChatGPT Plus ($20/month): More queries, faster access, and GPT-5 Thinking.
- ChatGPT Pro (~$200/month): Unlimited GPT-5, Thinking Pro, and advanced integrations.
- Business plans: Enterprise-level features with integrations and security.
- API pricing: $0.05 – $10 per million tokens, depending on model variant (mini, nano, standard).
Is GPT-5 better than humans?
In some domains, yes.
For example, in medical diagnostics and educational lesson planning, GPT-5 scored above human experts in structured benchmarks. However, it still lacks real-world judgment, emotional intelligence, and accountability.
Can GPT-5 replace GPT-4 entirely?
Not yet. While GPT-5 is the unified default in ChatGPT, GPT-4o has been restored for Plus users after backlash. Some users prefer GPT-4o’s warmth and creativity, while GPT-5 excels at reasoning and scale.
Final word
GPT-5 is not perfect. Some users find it less “alive” than GPT-4o, and OpenAI has promised more personalization and warmer tones in future updates. But in terms of reasoning, coding, scalability, and safety, GPT-5 is the most advanced LLM currently available.
It’s a step closer to AI that works like a true partner—handling complex tasks, scaling affordably, and integrating seamlessly into daily workflows.
The future of AI applications is being built on GPT-5.
