OpenAI To Improve Safety Standards On ChatGPT-4 By Sacrificing ChatGPT-5 Development?

ChatGPT-3 was quickly succeeded by ChatGPT-4. However, ChatGPT-5 might not arrive as swiftly. OpenAI's CEO has indicated that the Microsoft-funded company is focusing on improving the ChatGPT-4 language model.

OpenAI is not currently training a GPT-5 language model, mentioned OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman. Does this mean ChatGPT-4 will remain the top language model, which will function alongside ChatGPT-3?

Why is OpenAI Halting The Development Of Next-Gen ChatGPT-5?

ChatGPT-3 was the first public-facing version of the chatbot and it is based on the GPT-3 Generative AI platform. Ever since OpenAI introduced the AI chatbot, internet users as well as companies have been adopting and using the same very actively.

Following the immense success of ChatGPT-3, OpenAI announced GPT-4 in March. Simultaneously, Microsoft revealed that ChatGPT-4 was powering Bing Chat for weeks before the announcement.

While ChatGPT-3 is currently available for free, GPT-4 is available to all ChatGPT Plus users for a monthly $20 charge. Alternatively, users can access some of its capabilities for free in apps like Bing Chat or Petey for Apple Watch.

Considering the rapid deployment of ChatGPT-4, there were rumors about the arrival of ChatGPT-5. However, OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman has squashed the rumors and confirmed that OpenAI is currently focusing on ChatGPT-4. In other words, ChatGPT-5 is on the back burner, for now.

Altman made the announcement while discussing some of the concerns raised in an open letter, allegedly signed by Elon Musk, calling for a pause in the development of large-scale language models.

Although Altman didn't agree with most of the points in the letter, he did agree that there's an immediate need for "increasing safety rigor as capabilities become more serious." Hence, OpenAI will be moving in this direction, he concluded.

OpenAI Taking Measured Approach As Safety Is A Big Concern

Altman has clarified that OpenAI is working on upgrades and updates for GPT-4. "We are doing other things on top of GPT-4 that I think have all sorts of safety issues that are important to address and were totally left out of the letter."

OpenAI CEO claimed the company spent over six months training GPT-4 before its public release. "Taking the time to really study the safety of the model is important. As capabilities get more and more serious, the safety bar has got to increase. I think moving with caution and an increasing rigor for safety issues is really important."

What this basically means is that ChatGPT-4 could remain the premium product, while ChatGPT-3 will be offered for free, for the considerable future. Incidentally, ChatGPT-4 recently gained the ability to accept information via multiple input methods, including text and images. It also supports multiple languages and OpenAI has significantly improved the performance of ChatGPT's responses.