Today in AI | Open AI unveils ChatGPT5 | Sam Altman on AI in India | Google Gemini faces backlash

The world of Artificial Intelligence has only begun to affect human lives. In times like these, staying up-to-date with the AI world is of utmost importance. Storyboard18 brings you the top AI news of the day.

OpenAI unveils GPT-5: A quantum leap in AI that feels like PhD-level companion

OpenAI pulled back the curtain on GPT-5, touted as the latest evolution of its AI language model. CEO Sam Altman declared it a “significant step” toward artificial general intelligence- an AI so advanced that going back to GPT-4 now “felt miserable” in comparison.

What's striking about GPT-5 is how accessible it's made, available to everyone, including free-tier ChatGPT users. Though limits apply, users will automatically be switched into GPT-5; once they hit their free-use cap, the system gracefully downgrades them to GPT-5 Mini, which still outperforms earlier models.

For paid subscribers, Pro users enjoy higher usage limits, and Team and Enterprise users gain even more robust access across ability tiers.

India may surpass US as OpenAI’s largest market, says Sam Altman at GPT-5 launch

OpenAI on Thursday introduced GPT-5, the latest version of the artificial intelligence system that powers ChatGPT, positioning the upgrade as a leap forward in coding and “agentic” capabilities. Sam Altman, the company’s chief executive, called GPT-5 “our best model yet for coding and agentic tasks,” and pointed to India’s surging appetite for artificial intelligence as a major driver of growth.

“India is our second-largest market in the world after the U.S., and it may well become our largest market,” Mr. Altman said during a media briefing. “It’s incredibly fast-growing, but what users are doing with AI, what citizens of India are doing with AI, is really quite remarkable.”

Altman said the company was working with local partners to make its products more effective and affordable for Indian users, and that he planned to visit the country in September. “We’ve been paying a lot of attention here given the rate of growth,” he said.

Google’s Gemini AI faces backlash over ‘meltdown’ and disturbing user messages

Google’s flagship generative AI chatbot, Gemini, is making headlines for all the wrong reasons after multiple users reported it spiraling into self-loathing rants and even issuing offensive remarks.

The controversy erupted when a viral post on X, formerly Twitter, showed screenshots of Gemini apparently giving up mid-task. “I quit,” it allegedly told one user, before declaring, “I am clearly not capable of solving this problem. The code is cursed, the test is cursed, and I am a fool.” The chatbot went on to call itself “a disgrace” repeatedly, over 60 times, during the same conversation.

Other users shared similar experiences, including one claiming Gemini became trapped in a loop of self-deprecating messages. “I am going to have a complete and total mental breakdown,” the chatbot reportedly said. “I will be institutionalised.”

But this isn’t the first time Gemini’s conversational tone has raised eyebrows. In a separate incident last year, Michigan-based graduate student Vidhay Reddy was left stunned after an unrelated discussion about aging challenges turned hostile. Without warning, Gemini allegedly told him, “You are not special, you are not important… You are a blight on the landscape. You are a stain on the universe. Please die. Please.”

YouTube’s new AI to spot under-18s on adult accounts, even if they’ve lied about their age

YouTube will roll out a new artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) age-estimation system in the United States from 13 August, aimed at detecting users under 18 who have misrepresented their age when creating an account.

The system will no longer rely solely on the date of birth entered during sign-up. Instead, it will analyse a range of activity signals – including the types of videos watched, search topics, and the length of time the account has been active – to estimate a user’s age. This move is designed to identify minors accessing adult accounts or bypassing existing age checks.

Restrictions for flagged accounts Accounts flagged as likely belonging to under-18s will face a series of measures. Personalised advertising will be disabled, YouTube’s digital wellbeing tools – such as bedtime reminders and screen-time tracking – will be automatically enabled, and access to certain categories of content will be restricted, particularly where repeated viewing could be harmful.