Expectations are high for the newest version of OpenAI's flagship model because the San Francisco company has long positioned its technical advancements as a path toward artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a technology that is supposed to surpass humans at economically valuable work.

On a call with reporters Wednesday previewing the new chatbot, Altman likened GPT-5 to a Ph.D.-level expert. The new chatbot is also "the biggest single step forward" that OpenAI has taken in worldwide accessibility, Altman said.

Artificial marks the first feature that O’Dowd is doing since 2022’s big-budget fantasy, Slumberland. The Tony Award–nominated and Emmy-winning actor most recently created, directed, and starred in the original Sky series Small Town, Big Story and is generating Emmy buzz for his Black Mirror episode “Common People.”

In late 2024, former OpenAI researcher Sucha Balaji, who raised ethical concerns about OpenAI’s use of protected content and alleged copyright violations, was found dead in an apparent suicide, intensifying scrutiny of the company’s internal culture and transparency.