It feels like with every new announcement, the release of GPT-5 seems less and less likely. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told X earlier this month that the company would be focusing instead on o3 and o4 Mini before finally moving on to the big release.
While this means yet another delay, the March release of GPT-4.5 still gives users a taste of more complexity and “thoughtful” replies than its predecessors. In this article, we’ll be exploring this stopgap version more closely and looking at the GPT 4.5 benefits and how it compares to GPT-4.
High Demand Delaying GPT-5?
ChatGPT’s rollout of 4o image generation created unprecedented demand for its already overloaded GPUs and architecture. Concerns about scaling have been troubling the company for some time, as OpenAI seeks to find new funders to expand its operations.
After millions clamored to turn images into a Studio Ghibli-esque style (which has caused a backlash all of its own), the company has had to restrict 4o image generation to paid members only.
This, combined with increasing GPU and power demands from the 500 million people who use the chatbot daily has made it clear that OpenAI needs to prioritize stability over any new releases.
GPT-4.5 Benefits
This delay doesn’t leave us empty-handed. In the meantime, there’s still GPT-4.5 to play around with. OpenAI’s most complex model yet delivers a more emotionally savvy AI tool, with deeper reasoning and more naturalistic responses. The year spent training GPT-4.5 seems to have focused on refining the language and the quality of responses to user input.
Sam Altman has also said that it’ll be less prone to hallucination and made-up facts than its predecessor. All this comes with a much heftier price tag too. While Plus Tier users ($20) get access to a research preview of 4.5, the full functionality is restricted to Pro users at $200 per month or with API options at $150 and $75, dependent on the number of tokens.
GPT-4 vs. GPT-4.5
Probably the best way to understand the progress of GPT-4.5 would be to contrast it with its predecessor. While it seems that OpenAI is keen to promote its most complex release to date as a replacement for what came before, many feel that there are merits to both. Let’s look at some key differences:
- Speed – 4.5 gives the user more complex and reasoned responses. This is great, but does impact the response time. GPT-4 is quicker not only in response time but also in the brevity of its answers.
- Input – GPT-4.5 is still the new kid on the block and lacks much of the input support that other models have had time to harness. GPT-4’s text input, image handling, and audio support are integrated and native as opposed to its successor’s reliance on other tools like DALL.E.
- Accuracy – As previously stated, GPT-4.5 is more accurate and factual with its responses than GPT-4 and less prone to hallucination. This makes it easier to trust in research and report-based queries.
- Tone – 4.5 is vastly superior to its predecessor with regard to tone and natural replies. With a well-crafted prompt, the new version has a better grasp of creative writing. On the other hand, if you’re looking for more functional and brief responses, GPT-4 is still the winner.
- Task complexity – While both models are more than able to handle logical thought, problem-solving, critical thinking, and multimodal understanding well enough, 4.5 goes that extra step further in task complexity, handling difficult things more easily. This does come with the caveat of price, but for high-stakes work, it can be worth the cost.
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