OpenAI’s newest flagship, GPT-5, isn’t just a step up—it’s a full-blown remodel. Under the hood, it’s faster, sharper, and more self-aware, while on the surface, it’s picking up features that make ChatGPT feel more like your chatbot. Here’s what’s changing.

1. One Model to Rule Them All

The clunky model picker is mostly gone. GPT-5 now runs as a unified system that decides on the fly whether to give you a quick answer or spend extra time “thinking” for tougher problems. It replaces GPT-4o, 4.1, 4.5, and other variants in the default experience. Paid users can still opt for GPT-5 Thinking or the new high-end GPT-5 Pro, which delivers even deeper reasoning for complex work.

2. Four New “Personalities”

You can now set the tone for your AI chats without fiddling with long custom prompts. The four presets—Cynic, Robot, Listener, and Nerd—shift how ChatGPT speaks to you. Cynic gives dry, sarcastic wit; Robot is precise and emotionless; Listener is warm and reflective; Nerd is curious and eager to explain. Don’t like them? You can still stick to the default.

3. Big Gains in Coding and Creation

GPT-5’s coding chops have levelled up, especially in building complex, aesthetically polished front-ends from a single prompt. It’s more consistent at debugging large projects and has a better eye for design details like spacing and typography. With “vibe coding” upgrades, you can watch it spin your app or site into a live preview on Canvas.

4. Smarter Voice and Visual Skills

Advanced voice mode now adapts to your speaking style and follows instructions more closely, while free users get more hours to play with it. On the visual side, GPT-5 is better at interpreting images, charts, and diagrams—making it more useful for real-world problem-solving, from explaining a graph to parsing a whiteboard photo.

5. Safety, Honesty, and Fewer Hallucinations

OpenAI has cut factual errors by almost half compared to GPT-4o, and by even more when the model uses its “thinking” mode. It’s also less sycophantic, more transparent about its limits, and better at safely handling sensitive or dual-use topics. The new “safe completions” approach means it will give partial answers where possible instead of shutting you down entirely.

6. A More Personal ChatGPT

You can now tweak your ChatGPT’s accent colour, and for Pro users, hook it directly to Gmail and Google Calendar so it can pull schedules and emails into your workflow. Instruction-following has improved across the board, so it’s better at sticking to your preferred style, structure, and formatting without repeated nudging.