Sam Altman admits that OpenAI’s latest model is currently ‘way dumber’ than the previous one. My testing proves him right.
If you’re underwhelmed by OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-5, you’re not alone. Reddit is full of people asking how they can revert to the previous flagship model, GPT-4o. Developers are turned off by how slowly it « thinks », all to produce an answer that doesn’t seem much smarter.
Out of the gate, GPT-5 feels more like an incremental improvement than the science-fiction-level game changer CEO Sam Altman has been touting. Maybe he set unreasonable expectations, or needed to justify consuming all the electricity required to train the new model. In 2024, he previewed « some very good releases coming later this year [but] nothing that we are going to call GPT-5. » In other words, he implied that GPT-5 would be a true breakthrough.
Fast forward to this summer, and Altman is full stream ahead with the existential dread marketing (yes, that’s a thing, especially in these days). On a recent podcast appearance, he said he was scared of the power of GPT-5 and compared building it to the Manhattan Project. « There are moments in the history of science, where you have a group of scientists look at their creation and just say, you know: ‘What have we done?' » he said.
Unfortunately for Altman, GPT-5 feels more like a toy torpedo in a backyard pool. Even he admits it’s « way dumber » than he predicted.
« We expected some bumpiness as we roll out so many things at once », he said on a Reddit AMA today. « But it was a little more bumpy than we hoped for! » He claims « GPT-5 will seem smarter starting today », blaming technical issues that the company is fixing.GPT-4o vs. GPT-5: I Put Them to the Test
How does GPT-5 stack up against the now-retired GPT-4o? The slow rollout means some of us at PCMag are running GPT-5 while others are still on the previous model, so I put them to the test by asking both models the same five questions.
