Issue #50. I’m still here.

ChatGPT 4.5 supposedly much better at writing

OpenAI just released its newest model: 4.5. Currently, only people with a $200 per month subscription can use it. Therefore, I haven't tested it myself, but I am sending this update because I am hearing from multiple outlets that have tested it is that it is much better at writing than any previous model. It's supposedly "coming soon" for people with $20 per month subscriptions.

Benchmark testing also supposedly shows that this model hallucinates less than others.

It’s definitely a development worth watching.

Here are some examples of the comments I’ve seen:

Superhuman newsletter (February 28): “If you’re doing intense math and science, you’ll probably want to stick to o3-mini. But for creative ideas, writing, and practical advice, GPT-4.5 is the way to go.”

AI Daily Brief podcast (March 1): “It will also set a new standard for writing and creative thought.”

Ethan Mollick Bluesky post (February 28): “Been using GPT-4.5 for a few days and it is a very odd and interesting model. It can write beautifully, is very creative, and is occasionally oddly lazy on complex [coding] projects.”

It’s apparently extremely expensive to run

The other important point I’m hearing is that ChatGPT 4.5 is extremely expensive to operate.

Developers are complaining that it’s as much as 36x more expensive than ChatGPT 4o and 30x more than o3-mini, depending on how you count it.

These costs suggest that ChatGPT 4.5 may never be available free. It also makes me think it must have a high environmental cost because “expensive” generally means “uses a lot of energy.”

The bottom line is I’m hearing many people say the quality of writing from ChatGPT 4.5 is game-changing. When considering news that matters for writers and editors, this story caught my eye more than anything I’ve seen in the last couple of months, and I’ll be keeping an eye on it. I’m very curious what professional writers will think compared to tech people.

What is AI Sidequest?

Using AI isn’t my main job, and it probably isn’t yours either. I’m Mignon Fogarty, and Grammar Girl is my main gig, but I haven’t seen a technology like AI since the development of the internet, and I want to learn about it. I bet you do too.

So here we are! Sidequesting together.

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