GPT-4.5: OpenAI's Most Powerful and Versatile AI Model Yet

Discover the power of OpenAI's latest AI model, GPT-4.5, as we explore its impressive capabilities, computational efficiency, and potential impact on the future of AI and creative writing. Dive into the insights and analysis from industry experts to understand the evolving landscape of large language models.

2025年4月22日

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Discover the latest advancements in large language models with OpenAI's GPT-4.5, a powerful and versatile AI that excels at creative tasks and offers a more thoughtful and engaging conversational experience. This comprehensive overview explores the model's capabilities, pricing, and potential impact on the AI landscape.

Reasons for Releasing GPT-4.5: Improving Computational Efficiency and Building on a Strong Base Model

OpenAI has introduced GPT-4.5, which they claim is not a "Frontier Model" but rather an improvement in the computational efficiency of GPT-4 by more than 10x. However, this comes at a cost, as the price of GPT-4.5 is almost 30 times that of GPT-4.

While the performance of GPT-4.5 is better compared to GPT-4, it is not as close to the state-of-the-art models. The reason for releasing this model, according to Bob M, the previous Chief Research Officer at OpenAI, is that GPT-4.5 is a very strong base model, and OpenAI plans to build on top of it. The reasoning models that will be built on top of GPT-4.5 are expected to be much more powerful than what we have seen so far.

GPT-4.5 is the largest and most knowledgeable model yet from OpenAI, with each ".5" in the version representing roughly 10x the pre-training compute of the previous model. This means that GPT-4.5 is supposed to be 10x more computationally efficient than GPT-4, yet it is still challenging for OpenAI to serve this model.

The focus of GPT-4.5 is on improving the "Vibes" or emotional intelligence, rather than reasoning or coding abilities. It is designed for creative tasks and agentic planning, and it is currently available in a research preview with a 128,000 context window.

While GPT-4.5 may not excel on benchmarks compared to other state-of-the-art models, it is expected to serve as a strong base model for future reasoning and tool-using agents developed by OpenAI.

Size and Compute Efficiency of GPT-4.5: A Massive and Powerful Model

GPT-4.5 is the largest and most knowledgeable model yet from OpenAI. While the exact size is not known, it is estimated that each ".5" in the version number represents roughly 10x the pre-training compute of the previous model. This means that GPT-4.5 is likely 10 times the size of GPT-4, which was already a massive model.

Despite its enormous size, GPT-4.5 is also remarkably compute-efficient, being 10 times more efficient than GPT-4. This efficiency, however, comes at a significant cost, with the model being priced at $75 per million tokens, compared to just $2.5 per million tokens for GPT-4.

The sheer scale and efficiency of GPT-4.5 have presented challenges for OpenAI in terms of serving the model. They have had to grow their GPU infrastructure substantially to support the deployment of this model, and even then, they are struggling to meet the demand.

While GPT-4.5 may not outperform the latest state-of-the-art models on benchmarks, it is described as a "thoughtful" and "astonishing" conversational partner, with the ability to provide genuinely good advice. This suggests that the model's strength lies more in its intuition and emotional intelligence, rather than pure reasoning capabilities.

Overall, GPT-4.5 represents a significant milestone in the development of large language models, showcasing the continued progress in scaling up pre-training and optimization techniques. However, the high cost and compute-intensive nature of the model may limit its accessibility and practical applications, at least in the short term.

Distinguishing Features of GPT-4.5: Focused on Vibes, Emotional Intelligence, and Creative Insights

According to the information provided, GPT-4.5 is not a reasoning model like the latest generation of models such as GPT-3, but rather a model focused on improving pre-training and post-training to enhance its "vibes" and emotional intelligence (EQ) rather than raw cognitive capabilities (IQ).

The key distinguishing features of GPT-4.5 are:

  1. Emphasis on Vibes and Emotional Intelligence: The model is designed to have better "vibes" and a greater understanding of human needs and intent, making it more adept at creative and collaborative tasks rather than pure logical reasoning.

  2. Scaling Up Pre-Training and Post-Training: The model has been trained with a significant increase in computational resources, over 10x that of GPT-4, in order to improve its pattern recognition, connection-making, and ability to generate creative insights.

  3. Not a Reasoning Model: Unlike the latest state-of-the-art models like GPT-3, GPT-4.5 is not focused on complex reasoning and logical problem-solving. Its strengths lie in tasks that benefit from improved world model accuracy and intuition.

  4. Potential as a Foundation Model: While not a reasoning model itself, GPT-4.5 is positioned as a strong base model that can serve as a foundation for building more powerful reasoning and tool-using agents in the future.

  5. Limitations in Benchmark Performance: Despite its impressive scale, GPT-4.5 does not outperform the latest state-of-the-art models on benchmark tasks, as its focus is on improving "vibes" rather than raw cognitive capabilities.

In summary, GPT-4.5 represents a shift in the development of large language models, prioritizing emotional intelligence and creative insights over pure reasoning abilities. Its potential lies in serving as a powerful foundation for future advancements in AI systems.

Performance Comparisons: Lagging Behind State-of-the-Art Models on Benchmarks

While OpenAI claims that GPT-4.5 is the largest and most knowledgeable model they have released so far, the performance on benchmarks seems to lag behind other state-of-the-art models.

The system card provided by OpenAI shows that on tasks like multiple-choice questions, GPT-4.5 performs better than the original GPT-4, but is on par with smaller models like GPT-3 Mini. On the Sweep benchmark, GPT-4.5 outperforms the original GPT-4, but when compared to other OpenAI models like Deep-SQ3, it falls behind.

This suggests that while GPT-4.5 may excel in areas like creative writing and generating "vibes", it does not seem to be a significant improvement over existing models when it comes to more technical, reasoning-based tasks. The high cost of using GPT-4.5 through the API ($75 per million tokens) further limits its practical applications, especially for developers looking to integrate it into production systems.

Overall, the performance data indicates that GPT-4.5, while an impressive feat of scaling, is not necessarily the most capable model for tasks that require strong reasoning and problem-solving abilities. The focus on "vibes" and emotional intelligence seems to come at the expense of benchmark performance, at least in the current iteration of the model.

Accessing and Using GPT-4.5: Pricing, Availability, and Limitations

OpenAI has introduced GPT-4.5, a significant upgrade to their GPT-4 model. While it boasts improved computational efficiency and enhanced performance, the model comes with a hefty price tag and limited availability.

Pricing for GPT-4.5 is set at $75 per million tokens, a significant increase from the $2.5 per million tokens for GPT-4. This makes GPT-4.5 one of the most expensive language models on the market, pricing it out of reach for many users.

Access to GPT-4.5 is currently limited to OpenAI's Plus and Pro tiers, with the model not yet available to the general public. Even for Plus and Pro users, availability may be constrained due to OpenAI's GPU capacity limitations.

In terms of capabilities, GPT-4.5 is designed for creative tasks and agentic planning, rather than coding or other technical applications. While it may excel in areas like creative writing, it lags behind state-of-the-art models like Anthropic's Croc and Gemini in terms of reasoning and benchmark performance.

Developers looking to integrate GPT-4.5 into their applications will need to carefully consider the model's limitations and high cost. For many use cases, more affordable and capable alternatives may be more suitable.

Overall, the introduction of GPT-4.5 highlights the growing divide between the elite, high-performance models and the more accessible, cost-effective options available in the language model landscape.

Conclusion

The release of GPT-4.5 by OpenAI is an interesting development in the world of large language models. While it boasts improved computational efficiency and better performance compared to GPT-4, it falls short of the state-of-the-art models in terms of reasoning capabilities.

The model is primarily focused on enhancing the "vibes" or emotional intelligence, rather than tackling complex logical and STEM-related problems. This positioning suggests that OpenAI is aiming to create a strong foundation model that can be further built upon for more specialized reasoning tasks.

However, the high price tag of $75 per million tokens for the API access makes it challenging for widespread adoption, especially in production systems. This pricing strategy, along with the limited availability of the model, highlights the growing divide between the elite and more accessible AI models.

As the AI landscape continues to evolve, we are witnessing the formation of distinct groups in the Frontier Foundation model space. OpenAI is positioning itself as the premium provider, while others, like Google, are offering more accessible models, and Anthropic is struggling to keep up with the demand. The emergence of Chinese models with competitive pricing and web-based access further adds to the diversity of the ecosystem.

In summary, GPT-4.5 is an intriguing release, but its practical applications may be limited due to the high cost and its focus on "vibes" rather than reasoning. The AI community will continue to closely monitor the developments in this rapidly evolving field.

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