What is GPT-5
GPT-5 is a unified system. Most questions are answered by a smart and efficient model. Hard questions trigger a deeper reasoning model called GPT-5 Thinking. A real time router decides which path to take based on the conversation, complexity, tool use, and even your explicit intent if you say something like "think hard about this."
How it feels in ChatGPT
In ChatGPT, you get the new model with thinking built in. The experience focuses on better answers with less fuss, and it is rolling out widely. If you do not see it yet, OpenAI says access is expanding across Plus, Pro, and Team, with Enterprise and Edu following.
What it means for developers
GPT-5 is now in the API and posts strong numbers on coding benchmarks. OpenAI highlights 74.9 percent on SWE-bench Verified and 88 percent on Aider polyglot. The release emphasizes agentic tasks and collaborative coding, with improvements in editing, debugging, and understanding large repos.
For teams and enterprises
OpenAI positions GPT-5 as a step toward placing intelligence at the center of daily work. Team users start getting access first, with Enterprise and Edu next. A Pro variant with extended reasoning is coming to business plans for even more reliable and detailed responses.
Why this matters
Routing is the quiet star. Instead of you picking a model every time, GPT-5 uses measured correctness signals and user preferences to choose the right depth of reasoning. That reduces context juggling and helps keep quality steady during long problem solving sessions.
Getting started
- In ChatGPT, select GPT-5 from the model picker as the rollout reaches your account.
- In the API, switch your model to the GPT-5 family and test on your real tasks before scaling.
- For structured evaluations, review the system card to understand safety work and limits.
Final take
GPT-5 feels like a usability release with real depth. You get a quicker default for everyday work, a stronger thinker for hard problems, and less manual model wrangling. If you build products, start measuring where the router helps, where the thinker pays off, and where lightweight calls still win on cost and speed.