What GPT-5 Is (and What It Isn’t)
A Leap Forward - But Far From the Finish Line
GPT-5 is the newest version of OpenAI’s language model. It’s faster, more accurate, and easier to use than what came before it. One of the biggest changes is that you don’t have to pick which “mode” to use for your task anymore. The system has a kind of traffic cop built in that automatically chooses the right brain for the job. If it’s a quick, easy question, it uses the fast mode. If it’s something that needs more reasoning, it switches to the deep thinking mode (I'm guessing this could also save OpenAI gobs of money on overprocessing something that was a simple prompt)
Other new things in GPT-5:
Speed and precision improvements - fewer mistakes and more useful answers.
Expanded multimodality - this is a fancy way of saying it can handle text, images, audio, and even video in the same conversation.
Bigger “memory” in each conversation - can remember much more of your conversation at once (up to about the length of a thick book). Think of it as a bigger conversation bubble, so it forgets less.
Personalization and tool use - it can start to learn your style, connect to outside tools, and give answers that feel more like “you.”
For everyone in the industry who is waiting with bated breath for this thing to drop, the tl;dr is that this is not AGI.
What AGI Really Means - And Why It’s a Big Deal
AGI stands for Artificial General Intelligence. There isn’t one official definition, but most experts agree it means an AI system that can do almost anything a human can do, across many different kinds of tasks, without needing retraining each time. But maybe most importantly, it means that it can improve upon itself autonomously. Machines making machines. Just like Terminator, but without the firepower (*hopefully*).
Think of today’s AI like a very smart intern. It can do certain jobs amazingly well, but it can also get confused if you throw it something unfamiliar. AGI would be more like having a co-worker who can learn new things instantly, handle totally new problems, and do most jobs at least as well as a skilled human.
Why people care so much:
Whoever builds the first true AGI will have a massive advantage in science, business, and even national security.
Salaries in this race are huge. Meta has reportedly offered $1 to $300 million for top AI researchers, with rumors of a billion dollars.
Timelines are debated. Some say it could happen in 5 to 10 years. Others think it’s further out. Either way, it would be as big a shift as the Industrial Revolution, but unfolding in months as opposed to decades.
Predictions as to the arrival of AGI are all over the place. Some AI journalists thought it might have arrived with GPT-5, whereas others, like Geoffrey Hinton, often dubbed the “godfather of AI,” once believed AGI was 30 to 50 years away. But with how quickly things are moving, he now estimates it might come in 5 to 20 years.
When I asked the bot in question (GPT-5), it said likely mid-2030s. It's worth mentioning that GPT-4 told me that it might never happen.
Three Practical Moves You Can Start Today
At this point, the arrival date of AGI is probably less important than its expected short-term impact on the job market as a whole. The currently trending quip in tech circles is: "AI won't take your job. But somebody who knows how to use it really well probably will."
Step one is to self-educate and stop using these prompt windows like a Google search bar.
1. Learn to Prompt Strategically
Don’t just type random questions. Treat GPT-5 like a smart helper that needs clear instructions.
Start with 10 minutes a day. Pick one real task from your work or personal life. A good place to start is with something you don't particularly enjoy, such as the mundane repetitive pushing of buttons and moving things around on a screen.
Give it a clear, detailed request. For example: instead of "Write about how AI is changing retail," write "You are acting as a retail strategy consultant advising a mid-sized U.S. apparel brand. Using data trends from 2023–2024, identify the three most impactful ways AI is changing retail operations, with specific examples from the apparel industry. For each, provide: 1) the strategic opportunity, 2) potential risks, and 3) an actionable 90-day test the company could run to validate ROI. Present the answer in a decision-making brief for the company’s executive team." (context, scope, structure, audience, next steps)
Save prompts that work really well - but don’t just keep them in a document forever. If you use the same request often, wrap it into a custom GPT (or the equivalent in Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity). That way, you click once and get your preferred format without hunting for the prompt.
2. Audit Where AI Can Empower Your Work
Pick one recurring task you do every week. Maybe it’s summarizing meeting notes or drafting emails.
Ask GPT-5 to do the task three different ways. For example: “Make this more formal,” “make this more casual,” and “summarize in 5 bullet points.”
Compare which is most useful.
Turn your best workflow into a mini-assistant so you can run it on demand without searching through old files.
3. Join the Conversation
You don’t need to be a techie to have a voice in AI’s direction.
Choose one credible source to follow. This could be a newsletter, LinkedIn group, or AI ethics non-profit.
Read one article or join one discussion a week.
Write down one insight or question each time. It builds your understanding and helps you spot hype versus real progress.
The Bottom Line
GPT-5 is like a better, faster, free assistant HD with a doctorate in everything. AGI would be like adding a co-worker who can handle almost anything without training while continuously making itself better without any outside assistance. That’s why the race to get there is so intense, and why the salaries are sky-high.
If you understand the difference, you can get the most out of today’s tools while staying ready for what’s next.
Find your next edge,
Eli
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