On February 13, OpenAI CEO Sam Ultraman announced the company's technology roadmap for the next few months via social media. The core content includes the upcoming GPT-4.5 (codenamed Orion) and a GPT-5 model that integrates multiple technologies.This series of actions not only marks OpenAI's technological transition in the field of generative artificial intelligence, but also reflects its strategic intention to respond to market competition and optimize product ecology. It also triggers the market's in-depth thinking on technical ethics, business models and industry landscape.InvalidParameterValue

From the perspective of technology iteration paths, OpenAI is accelerating the performance boundaries of models.GPT-4.5 is a transitional version that expands the context window to 256k tokens, equivalent to approximately 200,000 words processing power. The knowledge deadline is updated to June 2024, and it is used in logical reasoning tasks such as mathematics and physics. Reliability has been significantly improved.This improvement responds directly to pressure from competitor Anthropic's Claude 3 model to surpass GPT-4 in multiple fields.The plan of GPT-5 is even more disruptive: by integrating o3 model technology, integrating voice, drawing, search and in-depth research functions, a multimodal intelligent system is built, aiming to achieve an "integrated intelligent model."

Ultraman emphasized that the move aims to solve the confusion faced by users when choosing complex models and return to the experience of "autonomous decision-making without human intervention."It is worth noting that OpenAI proposed for the first time that free users can use GPT-5 without restrictions under standard settings, and risk is controlled only through "abuse thresholds", while subscribing users enjoy a higher level of intelligence services.This tiered strategy not only expands the user base, but also maintains revenue elasticity through value-added services, or provides a new paradigm for industry commercialization.InvalidParameterValue

Behind the technology integration is OpenAI's long-term layout of General Artificial Intelligence (AGI).

According to leaked documents, OpenAI originally planned to achieve full AGI in 2027, but was delayed due to lawsuits filed by Elon Musk and chip supply chain issues.The design of GPT-5 this time is clearly a step towards the AGI goal: by unifying the architecture of the o series and the GPT series, the model can independently judge when to start deep thinking (thought chain technology) and when to respond quickly, thus simulating human cognition. Flexibility.However, the increase in technical complexity has also raised concerns.Industry experts point out that model integration may lead to reduced interpretability and increased black box risks. Especially in sensitive areas such as medical care and finance, the lack of transparency in algorithmic decisions may cause regulatory challenges.In response, OpenAI has introduced AI security expert Scott Aaronson to strengthen the ethical framework, but its actual effectiveness still needs to be observed.InvalidParameterValue

Innovation in business models is also worth analyzing.

OpenAI announced an adjustment to its charging rules. ChatGPT Plus users can use the in-depth research feature for free 10 times a month, and free users are limited to 2 times, while high-demand users will have to pay US$1,000 per month.This gradient pricing strategy may seem contradictory to its goal of technological inclusiveness, but in fact it implies refined operating logic: attracting potential paying users through limited free services, while at the same time meeting enterprise-level needs with high-end services.

In addition, the launch of the o3-mini model further confirms OpenAI's price reduction trend-since the release of GPT-4, token costs have been reduced by 95%, while performance has remained stable.This "high performance + low cost" combination not only consolidates the competitiveness of its API ecosystem, but also puts direct pressure on domestic models such as DeepSeek-R1.With its open source strategy and low reasoning prices, the latter has aroused cooperation interest from giants such as Microsoft and Nvidia.Although OpenAI has not completely turned to open source, Ultraman recently stated that "closed source may be on the wrong side of history," suggesting that strategies may be adjusted in the future to cope with the rise of the open source community.InvalidParameterValue

External competition and geopolitical factors cannot be ignored.The U.S. chip ban on China is accused of aiming to curb the development of AI in China and indirectly seeking a technical window for OpenAI.Musk's attempt to acquire OpenAI for US$97.4 billion was rejected by Ultraman, but it exposed capital's competition for control of AGI.At the same time, cities such as Hefei in China are accelerating the construction of integrated circuits and artificial intelligence industry clusters, striving to achieve breakthroughs in new energy vehicles, photovoltaics and other industries by 2025.The global AI competition has evolved from a purely technical competition to a full-dimensional game of computing power, data, policy and ecology.InvalidParameterValue

Looking to the future, if OpenAI's technical integration is successful, it will redefine the human-computer interaction paradigm, but the challenges it faces are equally arduous: how to improve performance while ensuring security and transparency?How to balance the open source ecosystem and commercial moat?How to deal with the disturbance of geopolitics and capital games?These issues may determine whether it can continue to lead the way in the AGI era.