OpenAI CEO Sam Altman disclosed last week that the organization has opted against releasing the o3 artificial intelligence (AI) model. In January, the company introduced the o3-mini model to all ChatGPT users, and the anticipated o3 model launch was expected this month. However, sharing insights into its AI roadmap, Altman indicated that instead of a separate o3 model release, the company will concentrate on a consolidated GPT-5 model that will encompass the capabilities of o3.
OpenAI to Launch GPT-4. 5 Before GPT-5
In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the OpenAI CEO outlined the roadmap for GPT-4. 5 and GPT-5. The company stated that with the upcoming two model releases, it will streamline its product offerings to reduce the friction users face when choosing different models for various tasks.
Rather, Altman stated that beginning with GPT-5, the company will concentrate on providing “unified intelligence,” a model that can utilize all the different OpenAI tools and discern when to apply reasoning and when not to. In this manner, the end user will not need to invest much thought into which model is appropriate for which task.
To accomplish that, the OpenAI CEO mentioned that the capabilities of o3 will be merged into the GPT-5 AI model. This also implies that the o3 model will not be launched independently. The AI company may effectively be concluding the independent release of the o-series AI models.
The organization is also reworking its tier-based offering strategy with GPT-5. Altman noted that the GPT-5 AI model will be accessible to all ChatGPT users at launch, and those in the free tier will receive unlimited chat access at the standard intelligence setting. This will be subject to the company’s abuse thresholds, likely designed to prevent any cases of model distillations.
ChatGPT Pro subscribers will have the ability to operate GPT-5 at a higher level of intelligence compared to the free tier, and the Pro subscribers will receive the highest level of intelligence. The ambiguous terminology surrounding “intelligence” is likely because the company aims to keep the specific capabilities of each version of the AI model undisclosed. Nonetheless, Altman did share that GPT-5 models will incorporate Advanced Voice, Canvas, Search, Deep Research, and more.
However, prior to any of this being unveiled, OpenAI is preparing to launch the GPT-4. 5 AI model, which will be the company’s final non-chain-of-thought (non-CoT) model. While Altman did not disclose a release date, he emphasized that the model could be introduced in the coming weeks or months. Curiously, he also mentioned that GPT-4. 5 is internally referred to as Orion, a model that was extensively rumored to be GPT-5.
