The artificial intelligence community is abuzz with rumors that OpenAI, the pioneering AI research laboratory, is set to unveil its highly anticipated GPT-5 language model as early as April 23, 2024. The speculation has intensified following cryptic images shared by the company featuring the number 22, which coincides with the birthday of OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman.
While the exact release date remains unconfirmed, Altman has previously stated that GPT-5 will be "materially better" than its predecessor, GPT-4, which was launched in March 2023. The upcoming model is expected to surpass the 1.5 trillion parameters of GPT-4, potentially offering even more advanced reasoning abilities and making interactions feel more like conversations with a person than a machine.
"GPT-5 will be no different," said an AI industry insider, referring to the significant improvements expected in the new model. "Each new large language model from OpenAI is a significant improvement on the previous generation across reasoning, coding, knowledge, and conversation."
One of the most anticipated features of GPT-5 is its potential multimodal capabilities, allowing the model to take input from various sources, including text, images, videos, and other forms of data. This development could pave the way for more natural and seamless interactions with AI systems, similar to the capabilities of Google's recently introduced Gemini 1.5 models.
Another major shift expected with GPT-5 is the focus on agents, which would allow the AI model to assign tasks to sub-models or connect to different services and perform real-world actions autonomously. This could revolutionize the way AI is integrated into everyday life, with potential applications ranging from managing grocery shopping based on user preferences to handling calls and creating spreadsheets from gathered data.
"One potential use for agents is in managing everyday life tasks," explained an AI researcher. "You could give ChatGPT with GPT-5 your dietary requirements, access to your smart fridge camera, and your grocery store account, and it could automatically order refills without you having to be involved."
The development of GPT-5 comes amidst increasing competition in the AI industry, with companies like Meta introducing their own language models, such as Llama 3, and Google's Gemini making waves with its internet access and multimodal capabilities. OpenAI's investment in robotics startup Figure also hints at the potential for GPT-5 to power humanoid robots, further blurring the lines between artificial intelligence and the physical world.
As the AI landscape continues to evolve rapidly, the anticipation surrounding GPT-5 is palpable. While the exact features and capabilities of the new model remain speculative, experts believe that OpenAI may release an intermediate version, such as GPT-4.5, before unveiling the full-fledged GPT-5. This intermediate model could offer improved performance, a larger context window, and more recent training data, setting the stage for the groundbreaking advancements expected in GPT-5.
The pricing model for GPT-5 is also a topic of interest, with many expecting OpenAI to follow a similar paywall approach to its current ChatGPT subscription plan. Users may need to pay a monthly fee to access the latest model's full capabilities, while a free version powered by an older model may remain available.
