Dilara Irem Sancar/Anadolu via Getty Images
ZDNET's key takeaways
The botched rollout of GPT-5 doesn't suggest superintelligence.
GPT-5 represents incremental technical progress.
Scholars are debunking AI hype with detailed analyses.
Nearly a year ago, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared artificial "superintelligence" was "just around the corner."
Also: Sam Altman says the Singularity is imminent - here's why
Then, last June, he trumpeted the arrival of superintelligence, writing in a blog post: "We have recently built systems that are smarter than people in many ways." But this rhetoric clashes with what is rapidly shaping up to be a rather botched debut of the much-anticipated GPT-5 model from Altman's AI company, OpenAI.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
A very underwhelming rollout
... continue reading