GPT-5 is giving ChatGPT more capabilities in at least five areas. Before GPT-5, ChatGPT users could choose between GPT models and the “o” reasoning series of models. GPT-5 merges both capabilities. “GPT-5 will automatically decide to use reasoning or not. Switching should be smoother in the next update,” said Elaine Ya Le, a researcher at OpenAI. ChatGPT Plus subscribers can send up to 160 messages using GPT-5 every three hours. That’s twice as many as prior models, according to OpenAI’s community forums. “We are going to double rate limits for Plus users as we finish rollout,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed during the Q&A with Redditors. For GPT-5 Thinking, Plus users are capped at 200 messages per week if they manually select this option. When ChatGPT switches to “Thinking” mode by itself, this does not count toward the quota. Eric Mitchell from OpenAI’s research team told Redditors that OpenAI “definitely” intends Plus users to have “unlimited access to reasoning.” Users don’t have to toggle tools on or off with GPT-5. They are automatically enabled depending on what the user needs. Tools include web search, data analysis, image analysis, file analysis, canvas, image generation, memory and custom instructions. There are two ways to use “voice” mode: clicking on the microphone icon in the prompt window and speaking a prompt or query for ChatGPT to process; and activating full “voice” mode and interacting directly with the model. Sulman Choudhry, head of engineering at OpenAI, said voice mode is now better at following instructions with GPT-5. Overall, users should get more advanced capabilities with GPT-5: “GPT-5 is a huge improvement over GPT-4 in a few key areas: It thinks better (reasoning), writes better (creativity), follows instructions more closely and is more aligned to user intent.”