OpenAI's GPT-5: What we know so far about August 7 release

OpenAI’s upcoming stream at 10 a.m. Pacific will not only mark the introduction of GPT-5 but also of two smaller variants - GPT-5 Mini and GPT-5 Nano - positioned for a range of developer and enterprise scenarios.

Users will likely be able to access all three versions through the API and ChatGPT app immediately following the announcement.

Early signs indicate a coordinated partner rollout as well, with services like Perplexity, Cursor, and Microsoft lining up to offer GPT-5-powered features for their users as soon as the embargo lifts.

Microsoft, in particular, has been updating its Copilot product in anticipation of the new model family. References to “Smart Mode” have appeared, hinting at specialized GPT-5-powered reasoning or adaptive behavior.

TestingCatalog was able to confirm through certain usage scenarios (such as the Robot SVG test) that Copilot has already been quietly running on GPT-5 in some cases, with the system sometimes directly identifying itself as using the new model. This under-the-hood rollout gives partners a chance to tune and evaluate the model before broad public access.

While industry watchers are not expecting a jump on the scale of the transition from GPT-3 to GPT-4, early signals suggest substantial improvements, particularly for reasoning and context handling.

OpenAI’s strategy of offering a tiered set of models addresses the demand for both high-capacity and lightweight deployments, continuing the trend of targeting a wide spectrum of AI workloads with tailored solutions.

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