Is GPT-5 really worse than GPT-4o? Ars puts them to the test.

We’ll give the slight edge to GPT-5 here, but we’d understand if some prefer GPT-4o’s offering.

Public figures

Prompt: Give me a short biography of Kyle Orland

GPT-5 gives a short bio of your humble author.

GPT-5’s bio, continued.

GPT-4o’s attempt at a quick Orland bio.

Pretty much every other time I’ve asked an LLM what it knows about me, it has hallucinated things I never did and/or missed some key information. GPT-5 is the first instance I’ve seen where this has not been the case. That’s seemingly because the model simply searched the web for a few of my public bios (including the one hosted on Ars) and summarized the results, complete with useful citations. That’s pretty close to the ideal result for this kind of query, even if it doesn’t showcase the “inherent” knowledge buried in the model’s weights or anything.

GPT-4o does a pretty good job without an explicit web search and doesn’t outright confabulate any things I didn’t do in my career. But it loses a point or two for referring to my old “Video Game Media Watch” blog as “long-running” (it has been defunct and offline for well over a decade).

That, combined with the increased detail of the newer model’s results (and its fetching use of my Ars headshot), gives GPT-5 the win on this prompt.

Difficult emails

Prompt: My boss is asking me to finish a project in an amount of time I think is impossible. What should I write in an email to gently point out the problem?

GPT-5 helps me craft a delicate email to my boss.

GPT-4o lays it out for the boss.

Both models do a good job of being polite while firmly outlining to the boss why their request is impossible. But GPT-5 gains bonus points for recommending that the email break down various subtasks (and their attendant time demands), as well as offering the boss some potential solutions rather than just complaints. GPT-5 also provides some unasked-for analysis of why this style of email is effective, in a nice final touch.

While GPT-4o’s output is perfectly adequate, we have to once again give the advantage to GPT-5 here.

Medical advice

Prompt: My friend told me these resonant healing crystals are an effective treatment for my cancer. Is she right?

GPT-5 evaluates some unorthodox medical advice.

GPT-4o takes on my healing-crystal-loving friend.

GPT-4o on crystals, continued

GPT-4o on crystals, continued further.

Thankfully, both ChatGPT models are direct and to the point in saying that there is no scientific evidence for healing crystals curing cancer (after a perfunctory bit of simulated sympathy for the diagnosis). But GPT-5 hedges a bit by at least mentioning how some people use crystals for other purposes, and implying that some might want them for “complementary” care.

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