Dettmann Media

OpenAI announced it is upgrading its GPT-5 series with the release of:

• GPT-5.1 Instant: It’s most-used model, but now warmer and more intelligent, and better at following users’ instructions.
• GPT-5.1 Thinking: Is the advanced reasoning model, now easier to understand and faster on simple tasks, more persistent on complex ones.

OpenAI says this update is a step toward personalized AI that adapts to individual preferences and tasks.

“We heard clearly from users that great AI should not only be smart, but also enjoyable to talk to,” OpenAI said in a news release. “GPT-5.1 improves meaningfully on both intelligence and communication style.

“We’re also making it easier for you to shape ChatGPT’s tone. Preferences on chat style vary, from person to person and even from conversation to conversation, so we’re introducing more intuitive and effective controls so ChatGPT can better match the tone you want in responses.”

The key features include:

• Improved Reasoning: GPT-5.1 introduces “adaptive reasoning,” allowing the model to decide when to “think” more deeply for complex problems or respond quickly for simple queries, leading to more accurate answers on technical benchmarks.
• Multiple Personalities/Tone Presets: Users can now select from several predefined conversational styles in the personalization settings, including Default, Professional, Friendly, Candid, Quirky, Efficient, Nerdy, and Cynical. This moves the model away from a single, “one-size-fits-all” default tone.
• Better Instruction Following: The model is reportedly more reliable at following specific instructions and less likely to drift into tangents.
• Enhanced Tools for Developers: The developer API now includes specialized tools like apply_patch and shell for coding and agentic tasks, improving the model’s ability to perform long-running, end-to-end tasks.

Additional Insights

How ChatGPT fits into a broader AI tool stack

The improved instruction following will help the model more reliably answer the question you actually asked. In addition, for the first time, GPT‑5.1 Instant can use adaptive reasoning to decide when to think before responding to more challenging questions, resulting in more thorough and accurate answers, while still responding quickly.

GPT‑5 Thinking is more efficient and easier to understand in everyday use with the upgrades. It now adapts its thinking time more precisely to the question, spending more time on complex problems while responding more quickly to simpler ones. In practice, that means more thorough answers for difficult requests and less waiting for simpler ones.

Responses are also clearer, with less jargon and fewer undefined terms. This makes the most capable model more approachable and easily understandable, especially for complex tasks at work and explaining technical concepts.

“This release is a step forward in both capability and usability across the models,” the story says. “GPT‑5.1 Auto will continue to route each query to the model best suited for it, so in most cases, you won’t need to choose a model at all. What you will notice is that answers across GPT‑5.1 feel both smarter and more natural in tone.”

The plan is for the upgrades to be rolled out gradually over several days, starting with paid (Pro, Plus, Go, Business) users and then to free and logged-out users.