GPT 5: A step towards AGI?

The release of OpenAI’s GPT-5 marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing development of artificial intelligence. Not only is it moving the paradigm of artificial intelligence more towards artificial general intelligence (AGI), but it is also a sign of how AI is continuing to develop into a powerful, scalable, and widely usable system. 

What is AGI?

Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a popular topic in the field of artificial intelligence. It refers to a hypothetical machine intelligence, one that has the ability to understand, learn, and perform any intellectual task that a human would be able to do. In comparison to contemporary AI systems, which are too narrow, AGI could theoretically apply knowledge from a wide variety of domains, as well as adapt to new situations. The main distinction between Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) and AGI is that AGI would be able to generalize what it has learned in one domain and apply it to another, while ANI would be incapable of applying its knowledge beyond its programming. 

Expectations vs. Reality

GPT-5 was caught between two different narratives: delivering AGI-level breakthroughs and remaining affordable enough to become the backbone of one of the world’s most-used consumer products. As we can see, it has thus far been unable to satisfy both extremes. While the frequent releases of new AI models makes the incremental progress seem disappointing, there are plenty of reasons why OpenAI has delivered a system that has solidified its leadership in the AI market.

Performance and Benchmarks

GPT-5 tops major benchmarks like LMArena and ArtificialAnalysis, outperforming rivals such as Claude Sonnet and Gemini 2.5 Pro. These results show the meaningful improvements that have been made. The race to develop AI has reached the climax, where AI progress is increasingly being defined by smaller gains rather than dramatic jumps, and GPT-5 continues that trend. 

A Shift in AI Progress

The release of GPT-5 also highlights a key shift: future advancements will come from better products, not just raw capability. Improvements in user experience, cost, reliability, and deployment will matter more than benchmark scores as AI continues to be perfected. Critics focusing solely on slowed evaluation gains risk missing the broader picture that AI is still rapidly advancing, but on a more traditional technological curve.

System Architecture and Design

GPT-5 boasts the integration of multiple components, including a fast and lightweight model for most tasks, a deeper reasoning model for complex queries, and a real-time router that decides which model to use based on context and user intent. 

This architecture helps to improve performance, reduce costs, and improve the user experience. It also introduces a 400K-token context window, fewer hallucinations, and customizable personalities. 

Pricing and Accessibility

OpenAI made GPT-5 more affordable than previous models and competitors. Currently, it costs less than GPT-4o and a lot less than Claude Opus or Gemini Pro. So, not only is GPT-5 shifting the field in terms of the progress it has made in improving AI, but it is also creating further competition for the pricing of such systems. 

The Road Ahead

GPT-5’s release may not represent the AGI breakthrough that some expected, but it shows that progress remains steady and strong. The model’s incremental improvements, new architecture, and lower costs will fuel the next wave of AI applications and make advanced tools available to more people than ever. 

Despite the high expectations, GPT-5 is a big step forward: not for the hype, but for the reality it is building towards: a future where powerful, affordable AI systems become entwined with humanity’s day-to-day lives.