GPT-5, OpenAI's most powerful model is launching today: What to expect?

OpenAI appears to be preparing for the official launch of GPT-5, the highly anticipated successor to its GPT-4 model, with strong indications pointing to a livestream announcement scheduled for today, Thursday 7 August at 10:30pm IST (10am PT).

A teaser titled “LIVE5TREAM” has sparked intense speculation online, with the stylised name swapping the “s” in “livestream” for a “5”, suggesting the release is imminent.

Hints have been dropping across social media platforms. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently shared a post referring to “something big-but-small today”, referencing the release of the open-source models gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b, followed by “a big upgrade later this week”, which many believe is a nod to GPT-5.

The company’s head of applied research, Boris Power, added to the speculation by stating he was “excited to see how the public receives GPT-5!” Meanwhile, third-party platforms like Flowith have already included GPT-5 in their model selectors, further fuelling rumours of an imminent release.

OpenAI has yet to confirm details, but expectations are high. GPT-5 is anticipated to bring substantial upgrades in reasoning, memory, and task execution. It may integrate the advanced capabilities of the o-series reasoning models (such as o3 and o4) with the broader knowledge and flexibility of the GPT-series, offering a more balanced and adaptive AI experience. This could allow the system to better choose between speed, cost, and depth depending on the user’s query, reducing the need for users to manually select models.

There’s also growing speculation that GPT-5 will be even more tool-aware, capable of multi-step reasoning, and potentially improve multimodal capabilities introduced with GPT-4o. Enhanced memory may allow it to retain context across sessions, leading to more consistent and personalised interactions.

OpenAI has shared a roadmap outlining different levels of GPT-5 access: free-tier users will reportedly get unlimited access at a standard intelligence level, while ChatGPT Plus subscribers could see higher performance, and Pro users will have access to the most advanced features. These may include integrations with tools like Voice, Canvas, Search, and Deep Research.

However, OpenAI has attempted to temper expectations. Altman clarified that GPT-5 is still experimental and won't yet reach the “IMO gold level”, a benchmark associated with an as-yet unreleased model expected in the future. Nonetheless, given the pace of competition from Anthropic, Google, and Meta, GPT-5 is expected to redefine the AI landscape once again.

With a major announcement looming, it’s clear that OpenAI is once again ready to raise the bar for what generative AI can do.