GPT-5 is Here: What’s Actually Changed and How to Use It

OpenAI’s GPT-5 has officially landed, and while the launch hasn’t been smooth — some users complained about slower speed, a cooler tone, and early rate limits — it’s still the most capable version of ChatGPT yet.

The truth? There is nothing entirely new.

Many of GPT-5’s features existed in some form before… but the scale, accuracy, and versatility have jumped forward in ways that matter for business owners.

Here’s what’s new (or meaningfully better) — and how you can turn it into a competitive edge.

1️⃣ Handle Entire Projects in One Conversation

What’s new: The context window has leapt to 400k tokens (about 300+ pages). Previous models could handle 100–200k at best, but would often “forget” early content in long conversations. GPT-5 maintains coherence better, making it practical for truly large-scale inputs.

How to use it:

• Analyse all your customer feedback from the last 2 years to spot hidden trends.

• Feed in multiple competitor pitch decks and get a side-by-side battle plan.

• Upload your full marketing playbook and ask GPT-5 to re-engineer it for a new audience.

Prompt to try:

“Here are our 3 annual reports, 2 years of reviews, and our last 10 marketing campaigns. Create a 90-day plan that fixes recurring weaknesses and amplifies our biggest wins.”.

2️⃣ Strategic Thinking That Holds Up Under Pressure

What’s new: “Thinking” mode allows GPT-5 to take extra processing time for complex reasoning. It’s significantly better at multi-step logic, weighing trade-offs, and integrating context from multiple data sources without losing accuracy.

How to use it:

• Build multi-channel marketing funnels with detailed conversion forecasts.

• Map out cost-benefit analyses for new product launches.

• Run scenario planning: “If X happens in the market, what’s our Plan B and C?”

Prompt to try:

“Using Thinking mode, map out three possible 2026 marketing strategies based on our 2024–2025 performance data, ranked by lowest risk to highest reward.”

3️⃣ True Multimodal Workflows — Now Including Video

What’s new: Previous models could take text and images. GPT-5 expands to video and audio, with more robust handling of mixed media in a single conversation. While video analysis still works best with short clips, it opens up entirely new possibilities.

How to use it:

• Get sales training feedback by uploading a recording of a sales call.

• Optimise store layouts by showing GPT-5 a walk-through video.

• Review product demos for clarity, persuasion, and pacing.

Prompt to try:
“Analyse this 1-minute demo video. Tell me where viewers might lose interest, and suggest script + visual changes to improve retention.”

4️⃣ Higher Accuracy in Technical Work

What’s new: GPT-5 scores higher than GPT-4o in math, coding, and structured reasoning benchmarks, making it safer for data-heavy and technical business tasks. It’s also less likely to “hallucinate” in fact-based outputs.

How to use it:

• Generate financial projections from your raw sales data.

• Build automation workflows with more reliable code snippets.

• Audit spreadsheets for hidden errors before client delivery.

5️⃣ Faster “Small Task” Mode

What’s new: The new “Fast” mode skips deep thinking and returns results instantly — ideal for rapid-fire tasks that don’t need heavy reasoning.

How to use it:

• Generate headline and ad variations during live meetings.

• Summarise meeting notes seconds after a call ends.

• Draft short email responses while you’re still in your inbox.

Why This Matters for Your Business

The core difference with GPT-5 isn’t that it invented brand-new capabilities — it’s that you can now do much more, at larger scale, with greater reliability.

Earlier models could:

• Analyse documents → but struggled to keep the big picture in long conversations.

• Handle reasoning → but got lost in multi-step scenarios.

• Look at images → but couldn’t meaningfully combine them with audio/video in one flow.

GPT-5 fixes many of these pain points.

That means less “babysitting” the AI, fewer re-prompts, and more time saved for you.

💡 Bottom Line

If you’ve been holding back on making AI a core part of your operations, GPT-5 makes that decision easier. It’s not perfect — but it’s powerful enough to run entire business workflows without constant intervention.

🧠 📈 AI Trends

• 31% surge in U.S. layoffs in July linked to AI influence

  A dramatic spike in layoffs complicates the narrative of AI’s benefits—highlighting risks associated with automation-driven disruption.

• Alibaba introduces “Accio Agent” for supply chain automation

  The new AI agent streamlines product sourcing and compliance processes—helping small businesses reduce overhead and boost operational efficiency.

• Conversational AI is redefining business information access

  Executives are shifting from keyword searches to AI-powered conversation—dramatically streamlining research, decision-making, and strategy formulation.

📊 Smart Tools Showcase

• QuickBooks AI Agent – QuickBooks now includes AI agents (accounting, payments, insights) that automate bookkeeping, reconciliation, invoicing and simple financial analysis.

• Assistable AI – Assistable builds voice and chat AI assistants for agencies and SMBs (voice booking, call deflection, lead qualification). Easy integrations into CRMs..

• Affiniti – Affiniti builds verticalised financial agents (AI CFO) for SMBs—automating analytics, expense tracking and banking workflows. Recently raised $17M Series A.

🧠 Prompt of the Week

Title: High Converting Landing Page

You are a conversion copywriter. The user offers [SERVICE/OFFER]. Produce a single high-converting landing page scaffold with:

1) Headline + 1-line subheadline.

2) 3 short bullets (benefits, social proof cue).

3) 3 trust elements (testimonials, guarantees).

4) Primary CTA + 2 micro-CTAs.

5) 5 headline variants to A/B test.

Keep copy punchy and focused on conversions.

🎉 That’s a Wrap!

Thanks for reading this week’s Unfair AIvantage! If you found it helpful, forward it to a friend who’s curious about using AI to work smarter, move faster, and stay ahead.

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Catch you next time!

Matt Kuyoro
The Unfair AIvantage Team