OpenAI updates GPT-4o, reclaiming its crown for best AI model

OpenAI has released several new models lately, but GPT-4o remains its most advanced flagship model. It packs advanced reasoning, multimodality, and conversational capabilities into one, and with the latest update, it has become even more capable. 

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On Wednesday, OpenAI announced via an X post that it updated GPT-4o to improve overall performance, including better file reading and writing capabilities that allow it to generate more natural and engaging text. 

So, just how good is the upgrade? Over the past week, before OpenAI announced the launch and the update, known as ChatGPT-4o (20241120), the company tested its performance on the Chatbot Arena LLM Leaderboard, a crowdsourced platform used to evaluate large language models (LLMs). 

Users chatting with the two LLMs side by side and comparing their responses without knowing the models’ names put GPT-4o in first place, above Gemini-Exp-1114. OpenAI also improved GPT-4o in several other categories, including creative writing, coding, and hard prompts, all of which it now ranks first in. To put them to the test yourself, you can visit the Chatbot Arena and vote for free. 

The update does not change how users access GPT-4o. Free users automatically have limited access, and ChatGPT Plus users can select GPT-4o from the toggle model selector. 

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The ChatGPT Plus subscription guarantees users unlimited, priority access to GPT-4o, which could be useful if you rely on ChatGPT for your everyday workload. The $20 per month subscription includes other perks such as the Advanced Voice Mode, Canvas, and unlimited image generation.