Technologies

ChatGPT Is Getting a Big Upgrade. Here’s What’s New With GPT-5

The new large language model is rolling out to all ChatGPT users.

Expect your ChatGPT experience to get faster and smarter today.

OpenAI updated its flagship line of large language models Thursday, unveiling the GPT-5 generative AI model after months of anticipation. While the developer has released a lot of model updates in recent months, including new open-weights models just this week, it’s been more than two years since the debut of GPT-4. With a new generation worthy of a new number, how big of a change should you expect?

«I tried going back to GPT-4 and it was quite miserable,» OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told reporters. «This is significantly better in obvious ways and subtle ways.»

Like its predecessor, GPT-5 powers the chatbots, agents and search tools you’re used to using in ChatGPT or through other apps that use OpenAI’s technology. But the company said this version is much smarter, more accurate and faster. Demonstrations showed it quickly creating custom applications with no coding required, and developers said they’ve worked on ways to make sure it provides safer answers to potentially treacherous questions. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

The new model should be available for everyone on Thursday, including those who use ChatGPT’s free tier. Here’s what to expect.

One model for everybody (kinda)

Unlike some of OpenAI’s incremental releases, GPT-5 will be rolled out for all users, from those using it for free through ChatGPT to those who work at companies that pay for big enterprise plans. There are, naturally, some differences between how it looks based on whether and how you pay for it. Here’s a breakdown:

Free users: You’ll get access to GPT-5 up to a usage cap, after which you’ll have a lighter GPT-5-mini model.
Plus users: Similar to free users, but with higher usage limits.
Pro users: Unlimited access to GPT-5 and access to a more powerful GPT-5 Pro model.
Enterprise/EDU/Team users: GPT-5 will be the default model, although it may be next week before it’s rolled out for everyone.

GPT-5 itself is really a couple of different models. There’s a fast but fairly straightforward LLM and a more robust reasoning model for handling more complex questions. A routing program identifies which model can best handle the prompt.

Even faster coding skills

OpenAI particularly highlighted the skills and speed at which the new model can write code. This isn’t just a function for programmers. The model’s ability to write a program makes it easier for it to solve a problem you present to it by creating the right tool.

Yann Dubois, a post-training lead at OpenAI, showed off the model’s coding ability by asking it to create an app for learning French. Within minutes, it had coded a web application complete with sound and working game functions. Dubois actually asked it to create two different apps, running the same prompt through the model twice. The speed at which GPT-5 writes code allows you to try multiple times and pick the result you like best — or provide feedback to make changes until you get it right.

«The beauty is that you can iterate super quickly with GPT-5 to make the changes that you want,» Dubois said. «GPT-5 really opens a whole new world of vibe coding.»

Read more: Never Use ChatGPT for These 11 Things

New safety features

After announcing some steps this week to improve how its tools handle sensitive mental health issues, OpenAI said GPT-5 has some tweaks of its own to make things safer.

The new model has improved training to avoid deceptive or inaccurate information, which will also improve the user experience, said Alex Beutel, safety research lead.

It’ll also respond differently if you ask a prompt that could be dangerous. Previous models would refuse to answer a potentially harmful question, but GPT-5 will instead try to provide the best safe answer, Beutel said. This can help when a question is innocent (like a science student asking a chemistry question) but sounds more sinister (like someone trying to make a weapon). «The model tries to give as helpful of an answer as possible but within the constraints of feeling safe,» Beutel said.

But is this really the way to AGI?

Altman told reporters the model is a «significant step along the path to AGI,» or artificial general intelligence, a term that often refers to models that are as smart and capable as a human. But Altman also said it’s definitely not there yet. One big reason is that it’s still not learning continuously while it’s deployed.

OpenAI’s stated goal is to try to develop AGI (although Altman said he’s not a big fan of the term), and it’s got competition. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been recruiting top AI scientists with the goal of creating «superintelligence.»

Whether large language models are the way there, nobody knows right now. Three-quarters of AI experts surveyed earlier this year said they had doubts LLMs would scale up to create something of that level of intelligence.

Technologies

The Tesla Cybertruck May Have Found Its True Calling: Target Practice

The US Air Force plans to launch missiles at the controversial truck. Can we watch?

Technologies

Out of Nowhere: UFO 50 Hits Switch 2 After Indie World Reveal

No release date, no buildup, just a straight-up launch on the Switch.

Nintendo held an Indie World Showcase on Thursday to spotlight some of the indie games coming to the Switch platform. One of the surprise indie hits from last year is making the jump from PC to the Switch 2, and it’s available right now.

UFO 50, one of CNET’s best games of 2024, was the surprise from Nintendo’s Indie World Showcase Thursday, and had the additional surprise of launching after the event. It’s available to play on the Switch or the Switch 2 and costs $25.

From Mossmouth, UFO 50 is a unique indie title as it consists of 50 games done in a retro 8-bit style. These games come in a variety of genres, from platformers to shooters to RPGs. It’s a wide variety of games made by different independent developers.

While the collection of games in UFO 50 looks like something released on the NES back in the ’80s, the games have a modern feel. Some games are intended to be played solo, while others are meant to be played with others. The selection does feel random, but they’re connected by the story of a fictional game studio, UFOSoft, that created these 50 games that it never released.

Along with UFO 50, more than a dozen indie games were revealed during the showcase, including:

Is This Seat Taken?
Little Kitty, Big City
Content Warning
Ball X Pit
Ultimate Sheep Raccoon
Glaciered
Winter Burrow
Undusted: Letters from the Past
Tiny Bookshop
Caves of Qud
Strange Antiquities
Opus: Prism Peak
Go-Go Town!
Mina the Hollower
Well Dweller
Neverway
Herdling

Some games are set to come out in the coming weeks, while others will arrive in 2026.

You can buy UFO 50 for the Switch or the Switch 2 via My Nintendo Store online or the Nintendo eShop on the consoles for $25. Those who want a physical copy of the game can preorder one from Fangamer for $35.

Technologies

What Happens When You Fold and Unfold the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 200,000 Times?

This YouTuber showed us. It wasn’t pretty.

After folding and unfolding the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 200,000 times by hand, Korean YouTube channel Tech-it found that the folding phone’s redesigned hinge and thinner design couldn’t withstand repeated handling.

The stunt, which was livestreamed over the course of a few days, found that the phone would reboot every 6,000 to 10,000 folds. At 46,000 folds, the phone started to creak. At 75,000 folds, an unknown black liquid started to leak out of the hinge. At 175,000 folds, all speakers, including the earpiece, stopped working. At the end of the experiment, the folding mechanism did become smoother, and the ability to hold its shape at any angle still worked. The findings were uploaded to a publicly available Google Doc.

«Although it would have been possible to build a machine to do the folding, we chose not to,» said Tech-it host Hyeonseo Chae, who goes by ITchelin, in a statement. «Machines apply consistent force, which doesn’t reflect how people actually use foldable phones in their daily lives. To better simulate real-world conditions, I decided to fold it entirely by hand.»

It seems that ITchelin has a point. Samsung advertises that the Z Fold 7 can withstand 500,000 folds. But that was likely done in a simulated environment.

Samsung didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Phones from companies such as Samsung, Apple, Motorola and Google undergo simulated durability testing. For folding phones, machines open and close phones thousands of times to see how they might hold up in the real world.

«One thing I learned from this project is that there can be a clear difference between lab test results and results from real-world scenarios,» said ITchelin. «I also realized that in any durability test, it’s important to assess not only the hardware but also how the internal software behaves over time.»

Given that foldable phones have complex hinge designs and flexible displays, they are more prone to damage or failure than regular slab-style phones. Durability , along with battery life, is actually one major reason some consumers aren’t jumping into the folding phone world.