OpenAI’s GPT-5 draws mixed reviews in China amid heightened AI competition

GPT-5 is not significantly ahead of Chinese AI models, according to Zhang Linfeng, an AI professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University

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OpenAI says GPT-5 is its smartest, fastest and most useful AI model. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 7:06pm, 9 Aug 2025

OpenAI’s latest flagship artificial intelligence model, GPT-5, has drawn mixed reviews in China, where some critics expressed disappointment over the new system’s lack of breakthroughs.

At its live-streamed launch on Thursday in the US, GPT-5 was touted by OpenAI as its “smartest, fastest, most useful model yet, and a major step towards placing intelligence at the centre of every business”.

The new AI model features improved performance across coding, maths, writing, health and visual perception, among others. OpenAI described it as “a unified system” that features a built-in “thinking” function, with the ability to automatically switch between “standard” and “deep thinking” modes based on factors such as conversation, task types and query complexity.

The new system is “like a PhD-level expert in anything, any area”, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at the launch.

In mainland China, where ChatGPT and other OpenAI services are not officially available, AI experts were confident that domestic users would not miss out on anything.

“GPT-5 is not significantly ahead of Chinese models, so it won’t put substantial pressure on Chinese researchers and developers,” said Zhang Linfeng, assistant professor at the School of Artificial Intelligence at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in a Saturday post on Xinchuang Shanghai, a WeChat public account affiliated with the state-backed newspaper Jiefang Daily.

GPT-5 “doesn’t come with revolutionary breakthroughs; it lacks memorable characteristics”, Zhang said.

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OpenAI’s GPT-5 draws mixed reviews in China amid heightened AI competition

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}GPT-5 is not significantly ahead of Chinese AI models, according to Zhang Linfeng, an AI professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University

GPT-5 is not significantly ahead of Chinese AI models, according to Zhang Linfeng, an AI professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University