Sam Altman slams ChatGPT-5 model rumor as ‘fake news’

Woman using a mobile phone with ChatGPT on the screen.
(Image credit: Shutterstock/ Alex Photo Stock)

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has slammed a media report about the imminent release of Orion, which is effectively ChatGPT-5, with a terse tweet on X.com. He described the report as “fake news out of control”, quashing rumors of a new version of ChatGPT before December.

The report by The Verge quotes ‘sources’ as claiming Microsoft is planning to host Orion, the successor to ChatGPT-4 on its servers in November, pointing towards a release for the new LLM in time for ChatGPT’s 2nd birthday next month.

ChatGPT’s 2nd birthday

Altman, who has a history of posting cryptic messages on X.com that hint at upcoming product releases in a coded way, posted on 21 October “Whoa ChatGPT's 2nd birthday is next month!”, followed up by a tweet saying, “What should we give it for a birthday present…”

Many users took this to mean a new product launch was imminent around the time of ChatGPT’s 2nd birthday (ChatGPT was released on 30 November 2022). Altman’s latest X.com post however would seem to remove any ambiguity around the event.

In a previous cryptic post on 14 September, Altman wrote “I love being home in the midwest. the night sky is so beautiful. excited for the winter constellations to rise soon; they are so great.”

Since the Winter constellation Orion is most visible in the night sky from November to February, this was taken as another hint about a possible release date for Orion.

ChatGPT is the most widely used chatbot in the US with a whopping 24.9 million searches for the term each month, according to Superside, which puts it a long way ahead of the next most searched-for AI chatbot, Google's Gemini on 1.5 million searches. You can use ChatGPT for several useful tasks like planning a trip, researching subjects for a school project, or simply coming up with a plan to get your next business idea off the ground.

ChatGPT will be integrated into an upcoming version of Apple Intelligence, running on compatible Apple devices, and become accessible through the Siri virtual assistant. ChatGPT is also accessible via a stand-alone mobile app that features an Advanced Voice mode on mobile, which enables you to chat with the AI just as you would chat with a human being.

We contacted OpenAI for comment on this story but they simply referred us to Altman’s tweet, saying “The best response is Sam’s tweet, which sums it up!”

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Graham Barlow
Senior Editor, AI

Graham is the Senior Editor for AI at TechRadar. With over 25 years of experience in both online and print journalism, Graham has worked for various market-leading tech brands including Computeractive, PC Pro, iMore, MacFormat, Mac|Life, Maximum PC, and more. He specializes in reporting on everything to do with AI and has appeared on BBC TV shows like BBC One Breakfast and on Radio 4 commenting on the latest trends in tech. Graham has an honors degree in Computer Science and spends his spare time podcasting and blogging.