How GPT-4.5 justifies itself
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
A key question about GPT-4.5 is how much better it is than its predecessors — and whether that edge justifies its higher cost. So I asked GPT-4.5 to make the case for itself.
Why it matters: ChatGPT-4.5, unveiled Thursday, costs developers at least 30 times as much as GPT-4o.
Zoom in: Axios had access to GPT-4.5 via a demo ChatGPT Pro account.
- So I asked the model to make the case that it offers more than incremental improvements and is worth the billions it surely cost to do all that pre-training. (OpenAI isn't sharing details on the cost or computing that went into training GPT-4.5.)
What it's saying: The model enthusiastically took on the challenge, offering five areas that "underline the significant leap from GPT-4o (and other predecessors)."
1. "Advanced Reasoning & Complex Problem Solving:" "I can handle multi-step, nuanced reasoning tasks more accurately and efficiently than GPT-4o," GPT-4.5 said, offering a specific example of a logic problem that has challenged earlier models.
2. "Enhanced Creativity & Flexibility:" As evidence, GPT-4.5 served up a "brief, poetic description of artificial intelligence from the perspective of a vintage typewriter." (My thought bubble: Does it know I have a vintage typewriter on my desk?)
3. "Superior Contextual Memory:" Here GPT touted its ability to manage complex multi-turn conversations "with enhanced recall of subtle contextual nuances." It provided an example conversation in which a user asked if it remembers their favorite Lego theme and it responded, "Absolutely — I remember clearly! Your favorite Lego theme is space." (My thought bubble: OK, it clearly knows me.)
4. "Real-time Integration & Dynamic Information:" While prior models were also able to draw on the current web, GPT 4.5 knocked its older sibling, saying: "GPT-4o typically required manual guidance to achieve this smoothly."
5. "Improved Instruction Interpretation & Safety:" To highlight its improvements in understanding nuance and observing ethical, legal and practical boundaries, GPT-4.5 cited its refusal to lay out step-by-step instructions for hacking into someone else's social media account, avoiding common GPT-4o pitfalls. (Yes, but: GPT-4o rejected the same query with a similar response.)
Between the lines: Not content to let the examples speak for themselves, GPT 4.5 offered several points to explain why OpenAI's massive investment was justified, including greater efficiency, precision and reliability and the ability for entirely new business cases.
It even offered up an Axios-style "Bottom Line."
- "The leap from GPT-4o to GPT-4.5 isn't incremental — it's transformative," it said. "The significant investment translates directly into measurable improvements in capability, creativity, reliability, and real-world value."
