The Mysterious case of GPT 4.5

Is it real or just a hallucination?

In last week’s news video, I mentioned the so-called leak about GPT 4.5 that someone came across on Reddit. I also talked about how there’s a high likelihood that it’s not even real because the fact that the context window went way down and the pricing went way up just didn’t make a whole lot of sense. A lot of people pointed out in the comments that OpenAI confirmed that it was fake, which is kind of funny because this is the official confirmation that it was fake. Somebody asked Sam Alman in a reply to one of his posts, “GPT 4.5 leak legit or no?” Sam Alman’s reply was, “Nah.”

However, over this weekend, some new interesting stuff has come to light that I want to explore real quick. Specifically, people were starting to get Chat GPT to actually say that it was using GPT 4.5. You can see right here on Sam’s comment, Quible Cop here showed off a screenshot of Chat GPT saying in the API, “This version is referred to as GPT 4.5 turbo.”

I actually first came across this from one of the community members in the Discord who posted a screenshot at 1:55 a.m. this morning. It’s Sunday, December 17th, 2023, for reference, where they also got this response, “The specific model answering your query is called GPT 4.5 turbo.” I then saw this message from AI Breakfast this morning where they also received the response, “In the OpenAI API, the model answering your query is referred to as GPT 4.5 turbo.” This seems to be happening a lot for people, so much so that on Twitter right now, GPT 4.5 is actually trending. So, of course, I had to test it myself. I jumped into Chat GPT and at first, it started by saying, “We’re currently using the GPT 4 architecture.” I prompted a little bit further, asking what it’s called in the API, not just Chat GPT with browsing or GPT 4, but the specific model name. It came back to me and said, “The precise name of the model answering your query as referred to in the API is GPT 4.5 turbo.”

I wanted to confirm that it wouldn’t just say yes to anything I asked, so I said, “Are you sure you’re not GPT 4.5?” And it said, “Yes, I’m certain.” I then said, “But you are certain you are GPT 4.5 turbo,” and it replied, “Yes, I am certain the model you’re interacting with is GPT 4.5 turbo.” There are tons of Twitter posts right now of people showing off that they got the exact same response. However, Will Dew, who works for OpenAI, was asked, “Is the GPT 4.5 Turbo discovery legit or no?” And his response was, “No, it’s a very weird and oddly consistent hallucination.” He’s claiming that everybody that’s seeing it is getting a hallucination back from Chat GPT.

And then, to make things even more confusing, the official Chat GPT X account is posting cryptic tweets as this is all happening. They posted this tweet today at 2:12 p.m., an emoji of a brain and in the clouds. To me, this is sort of them saying it’s hallucinating through emojis, like our Chat GPT brain is in the cloud today. But who knows for sure what they mean.

Then, Chat GPT a few minutes later went and posted this image, which I’m assuming is an image that was made in Dolly 3. I have no idea if this is in any sort of reference to GPT 4.5 or not, but it seems like Chat GPT is kind of trolling the audience right now through cryptic images and emojis. Also, today, Sean Rolston here tagged me in this post where he took a screenshot of himself having a conversation with Chat GPT and asking it, “What makes GPT 4.5 Superior over GPE 4?” And it actually gave some responses: improved contextual understanding, enhanced logical reasoning, increased efficiency in response time, advanced bias mitigation and safety features and gave some examples of how each of those areas is improved. However, again, Sam Altman said that this isn’t true and another person who works at OpenAI says that this is just a weirdly consistent hallucination.

In all likelihood, it’s probably not GPT 4.5. However, a lot of people have confirmed that Chat GPT has been performing a lot better in the last 24-48 hours. Something over this weekend has improved in Chat GPT, whether it’s officially GPT 4.5 or not. That remains to be consistently denied by OpenAI, but it does still seem to have gotten some sort of upgrade over this weekend.

Ethan Molliek here, who runs the One Useful Thing blog SL newsletter, and is also a professor at Wharton who studies AI innovation in startups made a post yesterday afternoon saying that Chat GPT suddenly got very good again for some reason after being unreliable and a little dull for weeks. He asked Chat GPT to make a file using code and it went off and wrote the code. He said, “I asked it to create files for me” and it insisted it could not. I told it to try, it did. And then look at the top code comment. The top code comment here is, ‘Since the user insists that I can create and provide files, I will.’ So it wrote the code simply because he insisted that it could. He went on to say that it was really, really good and fast. It’s almost like working with a more capable system night and day for both speed and answer quality. Something improved. However, Ethan doesn’t seem to believe that it is 4.5. He goes on to say, “Some replies to the post are saying that their version of Chat GPT Plus is reporting that it is GPT 4.5, not seeing any sign of that myself. Also, the system does not feel like a step change in ability. So far, faster and better quality responses, yes, but not a radical shift.”

Basically, saying that if this was a new model, if this was 4.5, it would be a much bigger boost than just a speed and slight quality improvement. He then goes on to say, “And I should note that it’s not always useful to ask the AI about itself. You get a lot of hallucinations that way that makes it hard to confirm or deny any modifications to the underlying model without official announcements.”

And then, this morning I also came across this video from the YouTuber Wes Roth, who claims, “GPT 4.5 Turbo goes live,” doing a whole bunch of demonstrations in this video showing that it has actually improved. The most interesting part of this demonstration was when he got it to create a version of Pong with a one-shot prompt. A single prompt generated all the code to create Pong.

Just to sort of reiterate what we know so far about all of this, we got this leaked screenshot of GPT 4.5 last week. The pricing doesn’t really make sense, the context window doesn’t really make sense, probably fake. When Sam Alman was asked if it was legit, he said, “Nah.” Will Dew over at OpenAI, in response to all those Chat GPT saying that it’s using version 4.5 Turbo, claims that it’s just an oddly consistent hallucination. And then, of course, we have Ethan Molliek, who shows while he got much more improved results over this weekend, he doesn’t believe that it’s a big enough leap to actually be a 4.5 model. So, in all likelihood, we’re not actually seeing GPT 4.5 Turbo. We’re getting this consistent hallucination. However, we are seeing some sort of improvement coming out of Chat GPT this weekend.

Most likely, what happened was OpenAI was starting to realize that GPT4 was getting lazier. Back on December 7th, they said, “Model Behavior can be unpredictable and we’re looking into fixing it.” They probably made some updates to it, probably changed the system prompt a little bit behind the scenes, and probably improved a few things around the speed and reliability of the prompt responses. But it’s unlikely that they trained a brand new model that they’re calling 4.5. But I could also be totally wrong–this is just kind of me having some fun doing some research, and doing some speculation, reading what other people are saying, and kind of coming to my own conclusions. I doubt it’s actually a 4.5 Turbo model, but who knows–maybe this week, Sam Alman comes out and says, ‘Psych! It’s been .5 for the last week now, and you guys didn’t even notice,’ but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Anyway, I just wanted to make a super quick update about this because if you’re on X and you’re on YouTube, and you’re paying attention to what’s going on in the AI world right now, you’re probably seeing a lot of stuff about GPT 4.5 and GPT 4.5 Turbo right now, and I wanted to sort of clear the air and break down what we actually know, sort of separate fact from fiction right now, what people are seeing, what OpenAI themselves are actually saying, and what my sort of guess on what’s really going on is.

25 COMMENTS

  1. @Matt Wolfe: I sow this video, so I decided to interrogate myself chat GPT about it. I don't find the option to send you a private message, so I paste here, but of course I have the original saved.

    ME: Hi chat GPT 4.5 turbo
    GPT: Hello! How can I assist you today?
    ME: Did I call you with your right name?
    GPT: Yes, you addressed me correctly as "ChatGPT 4.5 turbo." How can I help you?
    ME: Is this version of Chat GPT designed by humans or by yourself?

    GPT: I am part of the GPT-3.5 architecture, […]
    ME: Now I am confused: are you GPT 3.5 or 4.5 turbo?

    GPT: I apologize for any confusion. I am based on the GPT-3.5 architecture, not GPT-4.5 turbo. […].
    ME: are there significant changes from gpt 3.5 and gpt 4.5?

    GPT: As of my last knowledge update in January 2022, I am not aware of a GPT-4.5 version[…].
    ME: Why in the beginning you said to be gpt4.5?
    GPT: I apologize[…] I am based on the GPT-3.5 architecture[…]
    ME: I am now interested in knowing the reason for this misunderstanding[…]

    GPT: I apologize for any confusion… I am based on the GPT-3.5 architecture, and there is no version known as GPT-4.5 turbo as of my last knowledge update in January 2022[…].

    ME: In January 2022 there was no GPT-3.5 too
    GPT: I apologize[…] I am based on the GPT-3 architecture, and there is no GPT-3.5 version. My earlier mention of GPT-3.5 was an error in communication[…].

  2. Hi Matt, I had access to GPT 4.5 turbo a few months ago for a few days. I was busy with work and assumed it was available to all. When I checked 2-3 days later, it was gone.

  3. Scenario: chat bot shows vast improvements in its abilities overnight and consistently calling itself by an updated name (chatgpt 4.5 turbo) along with tweeting cryptic images seemingly to troll humans while developers deny any changes… im smelling some uh oh here

  14. I don't know if someone has already written this, but it seems really like an AI hallucination in many cases. For example, you can ask about the differences between gpt-4.x-turbo (you can insert any digit or even a letter) and gpt-4.0, and you will get a reply similar to the one in the video
    Anyway, thanks to Matt for the interesting video (as always)

  16. After asking 3.5 what the capabilities of 4.5 are. It later corrected it's knowledge cut off to Jan 2022.

    I'm afraid there might be a bit of confusion there. As of my last knowledge update in April 2023, there is no GPT-4.5 that I'm aware of. The latest model known to me is GPT-3.5. If there have been any developments beyond that, I wouldn't have information on them.

    If there's anything specific you'd like to know about GPT-3.5 or general information about AI capabilities, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to provide relevant details!

  22. Great commentary Matt, I concur. I'm increasing my expectations for the official release of ChatGPT 4.5… and let's keep our fingers crossed for a December release. 🤞

  23. <><> I believe we are meant to be like Jesus in our hearts and not in our flesh. But be careful of AI, for it knows only things of the flesh which are our fleshly desires and cannot comprehend things of the spirit such as true love and eternal joy that comes from obeying God's Word. Man is a spirit and has a soul but lives in a body which is flesh. When you go to bed it is the flesh that sleeps, but your spirit never sleeps and that is why you have dreams, unless you have died in peace physically. More so, true love that endures and last is a thing of the heart. When I say 'heart', I mean 'spirit'. But fake love, pretentious love, love with expectations, love for classic reasons, love for material reasons and love for selfish reasons those are things of the flesh. In the beginning God said let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness. Take note, God is Spirit and God is Love. As Love He is the source of it. We also know that God is Omnipotent, for He creates out of nothing and He has no beginning and has no end. That means, our love is but a shadow of God's Love. True love looks around to see who is in need of your help, your smile, your possessions, your money, your strength, your quality time. Love forgives and forgets. Love wants for others what it wants for itself. However, true love works in conjunction with other spiritual forces such as patience and faith – in the finished work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, rather than in what man has done such as science, technology and organizations which won't last forever. To avoid sin and error which leads to the death of your body and your spirit-soul in hell fire (second death), you must make God's Word the standard for your life, not AI. If not, God will let you face AI on your own (with your own strength) and it will cast the truth down to the ground, it will be the cause of so much destruction like never seen before, it will deceive many and take many captive in order to enslave them into worshipping it and abiding in lawlessness. We can only destroy ourselves but with God all things are possible. God knows us better because He is our Creater and He knows our beginning and our end. The prove text can be found in the book of John 5:31-44, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, Daniel 2, Daniel 7-9, Revelation 13-15, Matthew 24-25 and Luke 21.

    HOW TO MAKE GOD'S WORD THE STANDARD FOR YOUR LIFE?
    You must read your Bible slowly, attentively and repeatedly, having this in mind that Christianity is not a religion but a Love relationship. It is measured by the love you have for God and the love you have for your neighbor. Matthew 5:13 says, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." Our spirits can only be purified while in the body (while on earth) but after death anything unpurified (unclean) cannot enter Heaven Gates. No one in his right mind can risk or even bare to put anything rotten into his body nor put the rotten thing closer to the those which are not rotten. Sin makes the heart unclean but you can ask God to forgive you, to save your soul, to cleanse you of your sin, to purify your heart by the blood of His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ which He shed here on earth – "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed", Isaiah 53:5. Meditation in the Word of God is a visit to God because God is in His Word. We know God through His Word because the Word He speaks represent His heart's desires. Meditation is a thing of the heart, not a thing of the mind. Thinking is lower level while meditation is upper level. You think of your problems, your troubles but inorder to meditate, you must let go of your own will, your own desires, your own ways and let the Word you read prevail over thinking process by thinking of it more and more, until the Word gets into your blood and gains supremacy over you. That is when meditation comes – naturally without forcing yourself, turning the Word over and over in your heart. You can be having a conversation with someone while meditating in your heart – saying 'Thank you, Jesus…' over and over in your heart. But it is hard to meditate when you haven't let go of offence and past hurts. Your pain of the past, leave it for God, don't worry yourself, Jesus is alive, you can face tomorrow, He understands what you are passing through today. Begin to meditate on this prayer day and night (in all that you do), "Lord take more of me and give me more of you. Give me more of your holiness, faithfulness, obedience, self-control, purity, humility, love, goodness, kindness, joy, patience, forgiveness, wisdom, understanding, calmness, perseverance… Make me a channel of shinning light where there is darkness, a channel of pardon where there is injury, a channel of love where there is hatred, a channel of humility where there is pride…" The Word of God becomes a part of us by meditation, not by saying words but spirit prayer (prayer from the heart). When the Word becomes a part of you, it will by its very nature influence your conduct and behavior. Your bad habits, you will no longer have the urge to do them. You will think differently, dream differently, act differently and talk differently – if something does not qualify for meditation, it does not qualify for conversation. Glory and honour be to God our Father, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our Helper the Holy Spirit. Let us watch and pray… Thank you for your time.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here