GPT5 Orion – Unified – SearchGPT – What we know so far

Brett Tabkeon

As of late February 2025, OpenAI is advancing its AI models with the anticipated release of GPT-4.5, codenamed “Orion” expected in early March or April. This model is set to be the final iteration without chain-of-thought reasoning. Following this, GPT-5 is projected to debut in late 2025.

Sam Altman posted on Twitter:


OPENAI ROADMAP UPDATE FOR GPT-4.5 and GPT-5:We want to do a better job of sharing our intended roadmap, and a much better job simplifying our product offerings.

We want AI to “just work” for you; we realize how complicated our model and product offerings have gotten.

We hate the model picker as much as you do and want to return to magic unified intelligence.

We will next ship GPT-4.5, the model we called Orion internally, as our last non-chain-of-thought model.

After that, a top goal for us is to unify o-series models and GPT-series models by creating systems that can use all our tools, know when to think for a long time or not, and generally be useful for a very wide range of tasks.

In both ChatGPT and our API, we will release GPT-5 as a system that integrates a lot of our technology, including o3. We will no longer ship o3 as a standalone model.

The free tier of ChatGPT will get unlimited chat access to GPT-5 at the standard intelligence setting (!!), subject to abuse thresholds.

Plus subscribers will be able to run GPT-5 at a higher level of intelligence, and Pro subscribers will be able to run GPT-5 at an even higher level of intelligence. These models will incorporate voice, canvas, search, deep research, and more.

GPT-5 aims to unify OpenAI’s existing technologies, incorporating the o3 reasoning model to enhance AI’s problem-solving capabilities. This integration seeks to streamline user interactions by consolidating various model series into a cohesive system, thereby eliminating the need for users to select specific models for different tasks.
THE VERGE

In terms of accessibility, GPT-5 will be available across different ChatGPT subscription tiers. Free users will have standard access, while Plus and Pro subscribers can utilize higher intelligence settings, offering a scalable experience based on user needs.
PYMNTS

These developments underscore OpenAI’s commitment to refining AI functionalities and enhancing user experience through integrated, advanced models.

GPT Version Launch Date Details
GPT-1 June 2018 The pioneer model with 117 million parameters, introduced the transformer architecture that transformed NLP tasks.
GPT-2 February 2019 Scaled up to 1.5 billion parameters, capable of generating surprisingly coherent and relevant text, marking a significant leap forward.
GPT-3 June 2020 An advancement with 175 billion parameters, showcasing the ability to generate text indistinguishable from human writing in many cases.
GPT-3.5 December 2022 A refined update to GPT-3, boosting performance and reliability, making it even more useful across various applications.
GPT-4 March 2023 A major leap with 1.5 trillion parameters, featuring multimodal capabilities that integrate text, images, and more, offering deeper contextual understanding.
GPT-4 Turbo November 2023 A turbocharged version of GPT-4, providing enhanced speed and efficiency, tailored for commercial and high-demand uses.
GPT-4o May 13, 2024 An optimized version of GPT-4, focusing on enhanced performance and efficiency. It introduced advanced voice capabilities, allowing more natural and interactive speech interactions.
GPT-4.5 Expected March 2025 Internally codenamed “Orion,” GPT-4.5 is anticipated to be OpenAI’s last non-chain-of-thought model, offering enhanced capabilities over GPT-4.
GPT-5 Expected May 2025 Expected to bring advanced reasoning, improved reliability, and autonomous AI agents capable of handling real-world tasks without human oversight.