It’s the one we’ve all been waiting for – ChatGPT-5 is will be released in the next few hours! Earlier in the week OpenAI CEO Sam Altman teased that “something big” was coming on Friday, but then today the OpenAI account on X.com tweeted: “LIVE5TREAM THURSDAY 10AM PT”.

Notice the use of a 5 instead of an “S” in the word “LIVE5TREAM”? That can mean only one thing: ChatGPT-5 is coming!

With a livestream kicking off at 10AM PT, 1PM ET, and 6PM BST, we’ll embed the watch link as soon as it’s live below, and TechRadar will bring you the news as it breaks.

So what can we expect? Well, the speculation is that ChatGPT-5 models (the names of a few of which have already been leaked) will be leaps and bounds ahead of the ChatGPT-4 models that we currently use in terms of performance.

What we don’t know yet is which of the various OpenAI subscription offerings will get access to the new ChatGPT-5 models first, and will it be available to free users as well? We’ll keep you up to date with the latest news as it breaks here.

ChatGPT-5 accidentally leaks hours before launch

As we sit down with snacks and drinks watching the screen and waiting for a live stream to appear for the imminent launch of ChatGPT-5 it appears that a leak on GitHub has revealed the name of the different ChatGPT-5 models.

It looks like we will have gpt-5, designed for logic and multi-step tasks, .gpt-5-mini, a lightweight version for cost-sensitive applications, gpt-5-nano, which is Optimized for speed and ideal for applications requiring low latency, and gpt-5-chat, designed for advanced, natural, multimodal, and context-aware conversations for enterprise applications.

That’s no moon… that’s ChatGPT-5?

Sam Altman has confounded the Internet once again by posting a picture of what appears to be the Death Star from Star Wars rising menacingly from behind a planet.

Everybody is a bit confused by the meaning of this, so, who better to ask what it could mean than rival AI, Grok?

When asked what the image could mean, Grok replied: “Sam Altman’s image of the Death Star symbolizes the rise of immensely powerful AI, like the anticipated GPT-5—a transformative force with potential risks, echoing Star Wars’ superweapon. It’s likely teasing OpenAI’s next big breakthrough.”

Longer than usual

Sam Altman followed up his mysterious Death Star image post on X.com with a more down-to-earth statement in his next post:

“Our livestream tomorrow at 10 am PDT will be longer than usual, around an hour. We have a lot to show and hope you can find the the time to watch!”

To be honest Sam, an hour is not that long to reveal the details of what could potentially be the new standard in AI chatbots, so I think you should take as long as you need.

Why the Death Star image for ChatGPT-5?

At first, Sam Altman posting a picture of the Death Star in relation to the launch of ChatGPT-5, his own product, seemed like an odd way to market something to me. I mean, what’s he trying to say? Is it, “This thing is so scary it could destroy a planet”?

However, when you view it in context of the things he has recently said about AI creating new and unparalleled security risks and that fact that he finds ChatGPT-5 scary, it fits in. On the one hand, Altman is always pushing the narrative of how great AI will be for the future of the world and for the next generation, but at the same time he’s always talking about how AI has the potential to be dangerous.

This new type of marketing, where he both praises and criticizes his own product, is certainly nothing new for him, and perhaps it reframes the narrative and puts him ahead of OpenAI’s critics? Whatever his reasons, it certainly seems to be working.

ChatGPT-5 is just the beginning

As I wait with baited breath for the release of ChatGPT-5 (at 10am PT), I’m thinking about what Sam Altman said just a few days ago. “We have a ton of stuff to launch over the next couple of months – new models, products, features, and more”.

So, earlier this week OpenAI dropped its gpt-oss models, which are designed to run entirely on laptops and phones. In a few short hours we’ll get ChatGPT-5, but what next? The next couple of months is a long time, which means we might see quite a few new features being released.