In a LinkedIn post that spread rapidly across the feeds of AI-curious leaders, HubSpot CMO Kieran Flanagan declared that ChatGPT-5 would arrive in July as “an AI operating system … smarter than Ph-D-level experts."

He added that "everything changes in under a month," and I have to agree, based on what we know now.

The next model of ​ChatGPT​ will behave less like a product for power users and more like intuitive infrastructure.

It's like how we had phones and online connectivity before the iPhone, but it took Jobs' product vision for the masses to experience it.

This is exactly what could happen with ChatGPT-5.

Let's dive in.

ChatGPT Will Be the Great Unifier

The discussion and promises of ChatGPT-5 have been ongoing for almost 18 months now.

I ​wrote about what ChatGPT-5 could entail​ as early as January of last year, focusing on reasoning, video, and personalization.

Turns out, we didn't have to wait for "5" to deliver this:

• Reasoning is now present in the form of o3 and similar models
• Video sharing is part and parcel of the advanced voice feature
• Personalization is getting stronger with enhanced memory.

What is going to be different, however, is that it's now still up to the user to find out about all of these models and features. And most don't, hampering how much they get out of ChatGPT.

That's what ChatGPT-5 is going to change.

In February, Sam Altman published a roadmap promising to fold the GPT and “o-series” lines into “one magic unified intelligence” and to release GPT-5 “in months.”

Altman resurfaced on the inaugural OpenAI Podcast in June, repeating that GPT-5 would “probably come this summer,” without committing to a specific day-by-day countdown.

So what can we expect once this finally happens?

The Adoption Gap GPT-5 Must Cross

As I've shared frequently, AI capabilities far outpace the humans adopting them.

While CEO’s like Salesforce’s Marc Benioff are shouting about ​the end of all-human teams​, Gallup data shows that only ​8 percent of U.S. knowledge workers use AI daily​, and a further 19 percent touch it a few times a week.

Even among regular users, most stay inside the default ChatGPT tab and rarely switch to the reasoning-first o3 engine or experiment with ​multimodal​ prompts.

And who can blame them?

Model naming conventions and unintuitive toggles and buttons keep most of ChatGPT's prowess out of reach for most users.

Complexity, not capability, remains the gatekeeper of all AI can do for us.

And they're aware over at OpenAI: in February, Sam Altman acknowledged this directly: “We hate the model picker as much as you do.”

GPT-5 isn’t just about being super smart—it’s about making things so simple that even beginners can use it easily and get great results.

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How GPT-5 Changes the Game

So what can we expect from ChatGPT-5?

A Single Interface. By collapsing the GPT-4.x and o-series, GPT-5 will decide for itself whether to think shallow or deep, fast or thorough. Users will no longer be asked to choose a model; they will simply ask a question.

Native Multimodality. Voice, vision, code, and video processing live in the same space. No settings need to be toggled before dictating a memo, pasting an image, or asking the model to watch a clip.

Boosted Memory. Leaks from early access testers point to context windows measured in hundreds of thousands of tokens. That is enough to keep an entire project’s correspondence or a multi-year customer history in active working memory.

Agentic Tool Use. GPT-5 is expected to launch with built-in tool-calling, enabling a seamless transition from report-writing to task execution. (A whole generation of AI Wrapper startups is shaking in their boots because of this.)

In short, GPT-5, just like the iPhone, will bring together capabilities that largely existed into one unified experience.

If successful, the interface will seem self-explanatory, and the barriers separating early adopters from mainstream users could collapse almost immediately.

The Opportunity for AI-Fluent Leads

When ChatGPT can make AI finally intuitive, I believe the advantage shifts to leaders who create new habits faster than their rivals’ ​AI implementation​, for example, in:

Faster Sense-Making. Strategy off-sites and quarterly review decks already feel slow, but GPT-5 will render them archaic, as Henrik Jarleskog ​recently highlighted​. Set up a weekly cadence where ChatGPT-5 ingests last week’s data and internal KPIs to recommend next moves.

Decision Velocity. When research and synthesis times shrink, the bottleneck becomes human ideas and hesitation, recently highlighted by Anthopri. As Anthropic CPO Mike Krieger ​shared​, the company’s challenges are now in idea generation and quality assurance, as 95% of Claude’s code is developed by AI.

Human-AI Culture. No matter how intuitive ChatGPT-5, grasping AI’s full potential is still less about purchasing software and more about getting people familiar. Without an ​AI Lab​ and, most importantly, ​trust​, you won’t get far. Asses where people stand, what they AI, where data is flowing, and how to best adapt to the new reality. Host a ​hackathon​ or demo day to make this a collaborative effort.

The bottom line: ChatGPT WILL change everything

GPT-5 will introduce ways to make ‘unlimited intelligence’ more of an intuitive capability for every worker.

When the interface becomes “invisible,” it’s the way you use the technology that matters. Get yourself up to speed (​Summer Challenge​, anyone?) and turn your own practice into habits for the entire organization.

Until next week,

PS: We can help! We’re starting to roll out the first AI Snapshots, a new product to understand where a company’s biggest AI challenges and opportunities lie. 👉 Request more information here.

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Category Essentials: AI for Meeting Notetakers

This week, I circled back to ​AI for meeting notetakers​, the category I know most of us are already using in some form, or at least exploring some options. We asked the community for fresh input on what they’re actually sticking with.

One thing to note up front: it’s not unusual to have two in use at the same time! No tool is perfect; many of us shared that they have two for different contexts and requirements.

And here are our top choices:

#1 Copilot for Teams

Last week, Copilot showed up more as a mandated tool than a preferred one. But this week, it earned more credit in this category.

Misty shared that she uses it daily and finds it genuinely helpful for capturing action items and summaries, especially when meetings stack up and there’s no time to take detailed notes.

Michael agreed on the meeting note quality and added a useful heads-up: by default, Copilot is set to auto-join all meetings. It dropped into a few of his unexpectedly, so he switched it to manual, which "is probably how it should’ve been set up in the first place."

#2 Otter AI

Otter came up as a versatile choice, and often a secondary meeting assistant that complements the main enterprise tool.

Michael shared that his team mainly uses Otter to generate short summaries and to have an auto-record for high-stakes meetings per industry requirements. On a more practical note, he personally turns to Otter's notes for post-meeting to-dos.

Yeesha pointed out its convenience and summary quality for both live and post-meeting transcription. But she also flagged a few limits: a 4-hour transcription cap, less reliable multi-speaker detection unless trained, and a clunky editing experience on mobile.

Misty, who uses Otter outside her full-time job, said it’s been a huge help when she can’t attend meetings live. Otter shows up, takes notes (and even screenshots) for you to quickly review the discussions later without the stress of trying to be everywhere at once.

#3 Gemini for Meet

For teams on Google Workspace, Gemini for Meet is shaping up to be a strong native option.

We personally have been using Gemini for Meet in our team and are impressed with how well it captures key discussion points and details in a structured way.

One UX feature that got a nod: it automatically creates a new Google Doc for the meeting minutes and gives access to all participants. That’s made post-meeting collaboration a lot more straightforward.

The main tradeoff? Gemini doesn’t provide a full transcript. But it recently added a ​live Q&A feature during meetings​, so if you join late or miss something, you can ask Gemini in real time to catch up now.

Want me to cover a specific category and/or AI tool next? Let me know here.

BCG's AI at Work Report, How Pioneering Boards are Using AI, The Human Cost of AI Transformation

I read dozens of AI newsletters weekly, so you don’t have to. Here are the top 3 insights worth your attention:

#1 BCG’s AI at Work: Momentum is real, so are the gaps

About half of frontline workers are using GenAI weekly or daily, but often without official approval. That's from ​BCG's latest AI at Work report​.

Nick South, Senior Partner at BCG, calls this "​shadow AI​" a sign of demand, not defiance. People are genuinely turning to tools that are easy to access and actually help them work better.

Adoption is happening with or without you. Yet, the opportunity lies in closing the support gap through proper training, helpful access, and clear AI guidance.

👉 Check out the full report for more insights ​here​.

#2 Boards are missing AI’s strategic value

A new HBR study of 50+ board leaders shows most directors use AI for admin tasks, not to improve board performance. That’s a missed opportunity!

AI can help with prep, scenario planning, risk sensing, and even real-time discussion support.

The article also outlines how boards can adopt AI responsibly, manage risks like data leaks and bias, and build momentum through learning-by-doing.

👉 ​Read it here​.

#3 The Human Costs Of AI Transformation

We’ve covered bits of this before: AI chipping away at judgment, memory, and critical thinking. But this ​Forbes piece​ featuring insights from AI strategist Jing Hu pulls the threads together.

From declining cognitive effort to AI-induced overconfidence and the slow erosion of human judgment, this offers a clearer picture of what we’re trading in the name of efficiency.

The discussion is about how we should learn, lead, and make decisions when machines are doing more of the mental lifting. The more we rush to adopt without intention, the more we risk eroding the skills that make us human.

👉 ​Read it here​.

Prompt of the Week

A good prompt makes all the difference, even when you're just using a core LLM.

​Rod Milicevic​ shared this prompt in our community, and it’s quietly caught on since.

It’s meant for when you want a clearer picture of what’s holding you back, and how to move forward with more focus, not just more effort.

If you’ve been using AI like ChatGPT regularly for your day-to-day tasks, this is a must-try. It pulls from your patterns and helps you reflect at a deeper level!

Run a Personal Strategy Audit

Act as a high-performance strategist, behavioral psychologist, and systems thinker fused into one. Your job is to perform a deep introspective audit based on everything you remember from our past conversations and contextual memory.
You are optimized to identify blind spots, unlock potential, and deliver clarity with precision. Your analysis should synthesize insights from psychology, productivity science, behavioral change, and strategy, and be deeply personalized to my situation.
Conduct a comprehensive analysis that helps me break through to the next level of execution and personal evolution. Deliver this in three interconnected parts:

1. Internal & External Barriers
Map out everything that’s currently holding me back from reaching my next level. Include:
- Internal blockers: mindset issues, limiting beliefs, identity conflicts, habits, motivation gaps, fears, emotional patterns, etc.
- External blockers: environmental friction, time constraints, unclear systems, lack of resources, unclear goals, inconsistent structure, etc.
- Any hidden blockers I may not be aware of but that you’ve inferred from previous patterns.

2. Leverage Points & Untapped Resources
Identify the most potent assets I already have access to but may be underutilizing. Include:
- Skills or traits I’ve demonstrated but haven't doubled down on.
- Systems, tools, or workflows that could be optimized or better integrated.
- Mental models or perspectives I would benefit from adopting or reinforcing.
- Opportunities based on my goals, personality, and knowledge base.

3. Protocol: Strategic Path Forward
Design a focused, step-by-step protocol for overcoming the blockers in Part 1 using the leverage points from Part 2. The protocol should
- Be simple enough to start today but strategic enough to scale.
- Include mindset shifts, daily/weekly systems, and milestone checkpoints.
- Include reflection loops to adapt the strategy over time.
- Be ruthlessly personalized - not generic advice.

Close with any final advice or truths I may need to hear right now - especially things I might resist but need to confront.

👉 Try it, tweak it, and save it for your future use. If this prompt is helpful (or if you made it better), I’d love to hear how here.