OpenAI’s release of GPT-5 has reignited debate about whether artificial intelligence is reaching a plateau. The new model, launched last week after a two-year gap, has drawn mixed reviews.
Tech reviewer Mrwhosetheboss praised GPT-5 for outperforming earlier versions in coding tasks and for automatically routing queries to the most suitable model. Yet he noted GPT-4o still produced better results in areas like design. Users on Reddit quickly voiced disappointment, with one calling it the “biggest piece of garbage even as a paid user.” AI critic Gary Marcus described the launch as “overdue, overhyped and underwhelming.”
The backlash has fueled skepticism about the long-promoted “scaling laws” of AI, which predicted steady leaps in performance from bigger models. “The 2010s were the age of scaling, now we’re back in the age of wonder and discovery once again,” OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever told Reuters.
Some experts now argue improvements resemble software updates rather than breakthroughs. “I don’t hear a lot of companies saying that 2025 models are a lot more useful than 2024 models,” Marcus said.
Critics suggest AI may stabilize as a powerful tool, but not the world-transforming force once promised.