"I Feel Useless": Sam Altman Reacts To The Power Of ChatGPT-5

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said that he feels "useless" witnessing the capabilities of ChatGPT-5, the company's latest artificial intelligence (AI) model. In a recent podcast, Mr Altman claimed that the GPT-5's ability to solve challenges that he failed to resolve made him feel that way.

GPT-5 is expected to be launched sometime this month. Speaking on 'This Past Weekend' podcast with Theo Von, Mr Altman explained how GPT-5 flawlessly addressed a challenging email question. He was shocked when the model gave him the ideal response, which made him realise how powerful AI can be.

"I felt useless compared to the AI in this thing that I felt I should have been able to do, and I could not, and it was really hard. But the AI just did it like that. It was a weird feeling," Mr Altman said during the conversation.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman:
"It feels very fast."
"While testing GPT5 I got scared"
"Looking at it thinking: What have we done... like in the Manhattan Project"
"There are NO ADULTS IN THE ROOM" pic.twitter.com/D84IU5gjdj

— lethalintelligence.ai (@lethal_ai) July 28, 2025

His response stemmed from his growing awareness that AI is approaching a point where it might significantly outperform human cognitive powers rather than from a fear of the unknown or a loss of control. Mr Altman made a strong analogy between the historical significance of the Manhattan Project-the World War II and nuclear arms-era venture that gave rise to the atomic bomb-and the astounding capabilities of GPT-5.

"There are moments in science when people gaze upon what they have created and ask, 'What have we done?'" he explained. For Mr Altman, GPT-5 is one such instance.

He referenced physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, who oversaw the creation of the atomic bomb. GPT-5 has permanent effects on almost the same lever even if it is not damaging in conventional terms, Mr Altman added.

GPT-5 is widely expected to bring significant advances over GPT-4 in terms of speed, reasoning, memory, and multifunctional capabilities.