ZDNET’s key takeaways
- OpenAI has launched its long-awaited GPT-5 model.
- The model is claimed to be OpenAI’s fastest, smartest, and most capable yet.
- GPT-5 is available to everyone: Free, Plus, Pro, and Team/Enterprise/Edu users.
There are two kinds of OpenAI models in this world: GPT and reasoning models. The advantages of the former, such as GPT-4o, are that they combine speed and accuracy, while reasoning models such as o3 and o4 take longer to think and use more compute power to produce better answers. OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-5, supposedly gives all users access to the best of both models.
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(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
On Thursday, OpenAI The long-awaited GPT-5 has finally been unveiledthe company’s new-generation family of models. It is touted as the fastest, most intelligent, and most capable model yet. GPT-5 is an integrated system that combines the smart model (GPT-5 Thinking) for easier problems with a deeper reasoning model for more complex queries. If you’re wondering what it does, and if it is worth trying, continue reading. What is GPT-5?
A key difference between GPT-5 models and other OpenAI models, is the real router. This feature allows GPT-5 automatically to understand which model to use, based on conversation, complexity of prompt, and many more factors. The router is constantly trained on real signals in order to understand the best scenarios to use a particular model. Once a user reaches their usage limit, a miniature version of each model will take over.
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Although GPT-4o is a very capable model, it does not have a reasoning model. Those were only available to paying subscribers. GPT-5 is a big win for free users who, in the past, did not have access any of reasoning models. They were also excluded by default from more advanced models.
GPT-5 is a family of models that includes GPT-5, GPT-5-nano and GPT-5Pro. Developers and enterprises will be more concerned with the differences between these models when deciding which models to buy from the API.
For most consumers, however, you should know that GPT-5 is automatically selected, even for free users. When limits are reached, GPT-5 mini will be switched over, which is a more lightweight but still capable model. GPT-5 Pro can only be purchased by ChatGPT Pro subscribers for $200 per month. This is the most advanced GPT-5 version, designed for the most complex and challenging tasks – tasks that the average user will not even encounter.
What is the performance of GPT-5?
Like every model release, GPT-5 was accompanied by benchmark assessments, where it received state-of-the art scores in math (AIME-2025), coding, (SWE Bench Verified), and Multimodal Understanding (MMMU). It even performed well on Humanity’s Last Exam (a newer benchmark) with multi-modal questions across over 100 subjects such as math, science and the humanities.
The company claims it is the strongest coding model yet, being able to create websites, apps, and games from simple text prompts. In particular, OpenAI shares that it has shown improvements in complex front‑end generation and debugging larger repositories.
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Before the model was released, I watched a live demo of the feature, in which the user created a fully functional web app with interactive elements such as flashcards, a quiz with right and wrong answers, and a game from a simple text prompt. The final product looked sleek. As someone who has recent experience building webpages, it would have taken me hours to stylize using JavaScript and CSS. GPT-5 appears to take vibe coding to the next level.
Even if you are more of an average GPT-5 user who employs AI for writing, you will still reap these benefits. OpenAI claims GPT-5 is the most capable writing collaborator, being able to better tackle tasks that involve “structural ambiguity” such as free verse. Regardless of what you use ChatGPT to write, you should see improvements.
People have been increasingly reliant on ChatGPT for health-related queries because of its ability to conversationally break down medical jargon, which can often be scary and intimidating. Now the experience is optimized with GPT-5, flagging concerns, asking questions, understanding results, prepping you to ask providers questions, and weighing options.
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Remember that GPT-5 does not replace a medical professional. OpenAI noted that the model performed the highest on HealthBench, a benchmark evaluation the company published earlier this year. External benchmarks for how AI performs in medical scenarios are not yet standardized.
How does GPT-5 handle safety?
One of the biggest improvements available in GPT-5 is that the model is more accurate than any previous reasoning model and has fewer hallucinations, according to OpenAI. The company said GPT-5’s responses are 45% less likely to contain a factual error than GPT-4o with web search enabled on anonymized prompts, and 80% less likely to contain a factual error than OpenAI o3.
This is a big win, as reasoning models go beyond traditional pattern prediction and are invited to “think,” which leaves room for error.
OpenAI also added new publicly available benchmarks to test factuality, including LongFact and FActScore, in which GPT-5 with thinking showed a significant drop in hallucinations. GPT-5 (with thinking) also communicates more honestly with the user, sharing when a task is impossible or can’t be done. This is important because AI models often offer a plausible-sounding answer instead of admitting they don’t know, which can increase the circulation of misinformation. For more on the evaluation results, take a look at the System card
Another brand-new safety feature is called “safe completions,” which enables ChatGPT to still answer prompts it would typically refuse. Instead, it will answer, but within the safety boundaries defined by OpenAI, and give a clear explanation of when it can’t.
Lastly, while not entirely a safety issue, the model is less sycophantic, or effusively agreeable, and uses fewer unnecessary emojis.
How can you access GPT-5?
All users
GPT-5 and GPT-5 mini are available today for all Plus, Pro, Team, and Free users, while Enterprise and Edu users will get access next week, OpenAI said. However, subscribers still receive tiered perks. For example, included in the $20 per month subscription, ChatGPT Plus subscribers have “significantly higher usage” limits than free users. Meanwhile, ChatGPT Pro users have unlimited GPT-5 and access to GPT-5 Pro, an even more advanced version of the model included in their $200 per month subscription. OpenAI said Enterprise and Edu users will be given “generous limits.”
Also: Microsoft rolls out GPT-5 across its Copilot suite – here’s where you’ll find it
GPT-5 will be set as the default model for everyday work, replacing all other models for authenticated users. However, paid users will still have the option to select it under the model picker. OpenAI said free users may not be able to access full reasoning until a few days from now, noting that once free users reach usage limits, they’ll be moved to GPT-5 mini.
Developers
The release of the model is also helpful for developers, as they can benefit from the increased reliability and accuracy. To accommodate this, OpenAI is making GPT-5, GPT-mini, and GPT-5-nano available in the API. Two new parameters, reasoning and verbosity, are also meant to help developers get exactly what they need from their model without overspending. Pro, Plus, and Team users can sign in to ChatGPT to code with GPT-5 in the Codex CLI.
The reasoning parameter makes GPT-5 cheaper for tasks that don’t require in-depth thinking, and then the verbosity parameter allows developers to fine-tune just how verbose they want GPT-5 to be. The pricing is cheaper than GPT-4o. For more information, you can Check the blog post
I haven’t seen GPT-5 yet.
GPT-5 was rolled out to all Plus users, Pro users, Team members, and Free members on Thursday. The rollout is gradual, so it’s worth checking again if it wasn’t there when you first checked. It hadn’t appeared on my free account, Plus or Pro until last night.
Make sure you’re signed in. If you do not sign in, even though GPT-5 can be used for free, you will not have access to all the latest features. This includes GPT-5. You can follow my latest stories and tech adventure on social media.
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