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- 🔆 GPT-5: Hype, Rollout, & Backlash
🔆 GPT-5: Hype, Rollout, & Backlash
OpenAI's GPT-5, Team Lumiera featured on popular podcast, and the FT report that made the rounds this week.
Allegra Guinan & Emma G Moller
August 14, 2025
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🗞️ Issue 83 // ⏱️ Read Time: 5 min
In this week's newsletter
What we’re talking about: OpenAI’s highly publicized launch of GPT-5, promised as smarter, safer, and “PhD-level”, generated excitement, but its debut came with unexpected controversy and important lessons for technical leaders.
How it’s relevant: The rollout inadvertently disrupted user routines, exposed a deep emotional bond between people and their AI tools, and highlighted the risks of prioritizing technical upgrades over continuity and user experience.
Why it matters: Abrupt technology upgrades, no matter how advanced, can disrupt workflows, erode user trust, and create unintended emotional fallout when real-world adoption and human experience are overlooked.
Hello 👋
This week, we’re unpacking the story behind GPT-5. Despite impressive technical achievements - 94.6% accuracy on advanced mathematics problems and 74.9% on coding benchmarks - the launch became a case study in how disconnected metrics can be from user experience when human factors are overlooked. While the model promised "PhD-level" capabilities, its rollout revealed critical gaps in how we manage AI transitions when users have developed trust and dependency on existing systems. For leaders and teams, it’s a case study in how tech rollouts can go wrong when we ignore real-world usage and the human factor.