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GPT-5? OpenAI Starts Training 'Next Frontier Model'

OpenAI also forms a safety committee after two senior execs from its 'superalignment team' resign over concerns that OpenAI isn't taking AI safety seriously.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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OpenAI is training a new cutting-edge AI model that promises to replace its current flagship product, GPT-4o.

"OpenAI has recently begun training its next frontier model and we anticipate the resulting systems to bring us to the next level of capabilities on our path to AGI," or artificial general intelligence, the company says.

OpenAI executives have been teasing the next generation ChatGPT as a major advancement, but for now, the company is declining to reveal more, including what the AI model will be called and whether it's the long-awaited GPT-5.

Its announcement mainly concerns a new "Safety and Security Committee" meant to rein in future AI projects. That comes shortly after the leaders of OpenAI's Superalignment team resigned. One of them, Jan Leike, said he left because OpenAI isn't taking AI safety seriously. 

In response, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged that Leike is "right [that] we have a lot more to do [and] we are committed to doing it." Today he then announced the Safety and Security Committee, which Altman will lead alongside OpenAI Board Chairman Bret Taylor, co-creator of Google Maps, and Nicole Seligman, general counsel for Sony. 

The committee will also include at least five technical and policy experts and tap outside experts, including former NSA Cybersecurity Director Rob Joyce and former US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin, for input.  

“While we are proud to build and release models that are industry-leading on both capabilities and safety, we welcome a robust debate at this important moment,” the company says. 

Still, it doesn’t look like the debate will be open to the public. Instead, the committee’s first task “will be to evaluate and further develop OpenAI’s processes and safeguards over the next 90 days,” the company says. OpenAI will then publicly share an update on the “adopted recommendations” following a board review.

The timeline suggests OpenAI could release its next-generation model in the fall.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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