ChatGPT-5 just beat Pokémon Red in record time for an AI - 3x faster than GPT-o3 managed

There's a new fastest AI when it comes to Pokémon Red speed runs and it's GPT-5, beating out the previous record by a long way.

OpenAI's most recent model took just 6,470 steps to complete Pokémon Red, compared to ChatGPT-o3 which beat the game in 18,184 steps.

As TechRadar, which spotted this feat, points out, 6,500 steps translates to about a full week of gaming (non-stop) - well, just under a week - so it's not exactly fast. Well, not compared to a human speed runner (apparently something like 2,000 steps is possible, and the record time is for completion is 1 hour and 44 minutes).

Still, GPT-5's time is still three times as quick as GPT-o3, which is a remarkable leap - and an impressive feat overall.

Next up, GPT-5 is being tested with Pokémon Crystal (the sequel to the original).

Apparently, there are a few reasons why this new OpenAI model outperformed GPT-o3 convincingly, and the main one is simple: GPT-5 hallucinates far less. Seemingly GPT-5 also has improved spatial skills, so it's able to navigate the game a lot more competently. Finally, it's just better at planning objectives and pursuing them, so there are some major steps forward across multiple fronts here.

It's well worth a quick glimpse at those Pokémon Red record runs on YouTube by the way, with the level of accuracy, and ultra-swift navigation of menus, across a period of the best part of two hours being truly mind-boggling, frankly.

What also boggles the mind is growth ChatGPT has witnessed this year - it now fields some 2.5 billion queries on a daily basis, an increase of 2.5x since the end of last year.