Sep 3, 2025 06:58 PM
https://spectrum.ieee.org/gpt-5-trough-o...tent=hero5
INTRO: GPT-5 was supposed to be the model that proved artificial general intelligence (AGI) is within reach. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman hinted as much with a January post on his personal blog. Altman wrote he was “now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it,” adding that 2025 would be the year AI agents “materially change the output of companies.”
Reality hasn’t lived up to Altman’s expectations. Cognitive scientist and AGI skeptic Gary Marcus called GPT-5 “overhyped and underwhelming“ in a Substack post, and the deluge of negative feedback eventually prompted Altman to admit OpenAI “totally screwed up” the launch.
It’s not just GPT-5 in the crosshairs. A recent MIT report on AI in business found that 95 percent of all generative-AI deployments in business settings generated “zero return.” The report shook confidence in AI badly enough to drive a minor sell-off in tech stocks, though stock prices have since leveled off. Recent releases from Grok and Anthropic also received a tepid response.
“We are amid a classic hype cycle,” says Juan Graña, CEO of the AI company Neurologyca. “AI burst onto the scene with intense buzz, but is now sliding into what Gartner calls the ‘trough of disillusionment,’ where expectations meet reality.”
There’s a good chance you know the trough of disillusionment even if you’re not familiar with the term... (MORE - details)
INTRO: GPT-5 was supposed to be the model that proved artificial general intelligence (AGI) is within reach. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman hinted as much with a January post on his personal blog. Altman wrote he was “now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it,” adding that 2025 would be the year AI agents “materially change the output of companies.”
Reality hasn’t lived up to Altman’s expectations. Cognitive scientist and AGI skeptic Gary Marcus called GPT-5 “overhyped and underwhelming“ in a Substack post, and the deluge of negative feedback eventually prompted Altman to admit OpenAI “totally screwed up” the launch.
It’s not just GPT-5 in the crosshairs. A recent MIT report on AI in business found that 95 percent of all generative-AI deployments in business settings generated “zero return.” The report shook confidence in AI badly enough to drive a minor sell-off in tech stocks, though stock prices have since leveled off. Recent releases from Grok and Anthropic also received a tepid response.
“We are amid a classic hype cycle,” says Juan Graña, CEO of the AI company Neurologyca. “AI burst onto the scene with intense buzz, but is now sliding into what Gartner calls the ‘trough of disillusionment,’ where expectations meet reality.”
There’s a good chance you know the trough of disillusionment even if you’re not familiar with the term... (MORE - details)
