ChatGPT-5 launch: Altman felt ‘useless’ testing AI, compares its impact to the Manhattan project

OpenAI is set to go live later today, to unveil ChatGPT-5, which could be its biggest update to date. The livestream is scheduled to begin at 10:00 am Pacific Time, which is 10:30 pm Indian Standard Time, and will be broadcast via OpenAI’s official YouTube channel.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took to X to share that the livestream will run for close to an hour, longer than usual. “We have a lot to show and hope you can find the time to watch!” he wrote.



ChatGPT-5: The “here it is!” moment

Speaking on a recent episode of ‘This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von’, Altman shared a personal epiphany while testing ChatGPT-5. He described an experience where the new model tackled something he himself could not grasp, which left him feeling "useless".

“I really sat back in my chair and I was just like ‘Oh man! Here it is!” he reminisced. “I felt useless relative to the AI…I felt like I should have been able to do it, and I couldn’t, and it was hard. But AI did it just like that. It was a weird feeling.”

When asked about the leap in intelligence from GPT-4 to GPT-5 during a Q&A at Stanford University, Altman said that GPT-4 is not “phenomenal” and that it is “mildly embarrassing at best.”

“GPT-4 is the dumbest model any of you will ever have to use, by a lot,” he said.

Also Read: ChatGPT may face capacity crunches ahead of GPT-5 launch: Sam Altman

On AI development

In his conversation with Von, Altman drew a comparison between the development of AI and the Trinity test, which was part of the Manhattan Project, the World War II-era programme that produced the first atomic bomb.

He said that there have been moments in the history of science where scientists have looked at their creation and said “What have we done?” He was referencing the reaction of those who witnessed the sheer scale of the atomic bomb’s power.

According to Altman, the people working on AI today feel something very similar.

“We just don’t know. We think it's going to be great. There are real risks. In truth, all we know right now is that we have discovered or invented something extraordinary that is going to reshape the course of human history,” he added.

Also Read: OpenAI in talks to sell employee shares at $500 billion valuation: Bloomberg