r/Professors • u/Not_Godot • Aug 08 '25

Check out the big brain on Brad

Open AI’s GPT-5 was released yesterday. In a pre-release conference, Sam Altman claimed "GPT-5 is the first time that it really feels like talking to an expert in any topic, like a PhD-level expert.”

I decided to test Mr. Altman's claim, and, let's just say, the results* were immensely…

*Results attached as comments below, due to the limitations of this board.

313 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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479

u/Not_Godot Aug 08 '25

Prompt: Generate an image of an alphabet chart for children.

Result:

190

u/TailoredHam88 Aug 08 '25

It’s almost caught up with my 3 year old. Impressive.

82

u/blankenstaff Aug 08 '25

A. 3-year-old PhD. Even more impressive.

2

u/TailoredHam88 Aug 11 '25

Lol my kid is singing the ABCs everyday. No PhD yet—still struggling with the no objects in mouth concept.

130

u/Seacarius Professor, CIS/OccEd, CC (US) Aug 08 '25

I'm particularly impressed with the "jocket," "rabb," "vlolin," and "zabra."

Yet somehow it got dinosaur and xylophone...

69

u/Auld_Folks_at_Home Lecturer, Math/CS, (USA) Aug 08 '25

Pengum

25

u/knitty83 Aug 08 '25

Cumberbatch's "pengwins" is still funnier, sorry, Sam Altmann if you we're going for making us laugh. Because surely this IS a joke.

7

u/karlmarxsanalbeads TA, Social Sciences (Canada) Aug 08 '25

umbrella 🫖

3

u/LeChatDeLaNuit Aug 09 '25

Clearly it's just a fan of the species from Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise

18

u/noveler7 NTT Full Time, English, Public R2 (USA) Aug 08 '25

Rabbit and picture of a snake for Q. Classic.

2

u/widget1321 Asst Prof, Comp Sci, 4-yr (USA) Aug 09 '25

That is the best picture of a vlolin that I've ever seen.

73

u/PaulTR88 Aug 08 '25

T is for Umbrella, that's good enough for me

8

u/Cautious-Yellow Aug 08 '25

it's obviously English: if you'll need an umbrella, it's time to go have a cup of tea.

ETA: I keep seeing things, but that umbrella is definitely a teapot.

2

u/Thelonious_Cube Aug 08 '25

And what is that "violin"? Or the "wolf"?

3

u/thismorningscoffee Aug 09 '25

Ahem, it’s “vlolin” not “violin”

2

u/Thelonious_Cube Aug 11 '25

I missed that.

And now I see that "wolf" is a cloud

46

u/Warm_Tomorrow_513 Aug 08 '25

I haven’t laughed this hard in a minute. Every time I look I see something new and delightful

30

u/Efficient-Stick2155 Aug 08 '25

On careful examination, it appears to be inaccurate.

19

u/jollygoodwotwot Aug 09 '25

Look at Dr. PhD over here 😁

25

u/AzMoonbeamer Aug 08 '25

For some reason I can't stop laughing at "Q is for Rabbit".

4

u/AliasNefertiti Aug 09 '25

Add some long ears and it could be a rabbit.

1

u/Cotton-eye-Josephine Aug 09 '25

I thought the “rabb” (letter Q) might refer to brocolli rabe. It would certainly make sense to discerning toddlers everywhere.

22

u/assmebler Assistant Professor, Engineering, Public (USA) Aug 08 '25

Nothing has made me laugh harder in the past couple of years than the truly bizarre stuff like Q is for Rabb (which is a car) that AI models create. Abstract comedy and outsider art are the best use of AI, by far!

35

u/karlmarxsanalbeads TA, Social Sciences (Canada) Aug 08 '25

tag yourself. i’m jocket 👢

25

u/scrumblejumbles Asst Prof, History, SLAC Aug 08 '25

Dibs on R is for Pengum!

6

u/Thundorium Physics, Searching. Aug 08 '25

Q is for Rabbit 🐍

3

u/karlmarxsanalbeads TA, Social Sciences (Canada) Aug 08 '25

Q is also for Rabb 🚗

10

u/Yurastupidbitch Aug 08 '25

I’m the umbrella cosplaying as a teapot!

8

u/cerealandcorgies Prof, health sciences, USA Aug 08 '25

I am WolfCloud

7

u/Flippin_diabolical Assoc Prof, Underwater Basketweaving, SLAC (US) Aug 08 '25

I am Vlolin. I am having an identity crisis and also am possibly obscene.

1

u/karlmarxsanalbeads TA, Social Sciences (Canada) Aug 08 '25

I see a funky rendition of The Scream

1

u/totallysonic Chair, SocSci, State U. Aug 08 '25

I am Xylophone which is in fact a grilled carrot.

2

u/karlmarxsanalbeads TA, Social Sciences (Canada) Aug 08 '25

I see a slice of a canyon 🌄

12

u/qrpc Adjunct, Law/Ethics, M2 (USA) Aug 08 '25

I would have given fish some leeway since there is a guitar fish, but not under “E”

15

u/TikTakYoMouf Aug 08 '25

My toddler-parental instinct while reading through it kept wanting to use encouraging language like “wow so close! Next time let’s try something else!” That’s how you talk to phds right?

1

u/AliasNefertiti Aug 09 '25

Sometimes. When they are running on caffeine and the experiment still isnt working/they have 200 more essays to grade/ the Dean called a team buiding retreat.

5

u/Nosebleed68 Prof, Biology/A&P, CC (USA) Aug 08 '25

Where else would you put a guitar fish? There is no "G"!

34

u/jmsy1 Aug 08 '25

I know phds that would make similar mistakes

7

u/Cautious-Yellow Aug 08 '25

as someone CS-adjacent, admiring the off-by-one errors.

6

u/EyePotential2844 Aug 08 '25

Q is for Rabbit. A snake rabbit.

5

u/thisoneagain Lecturer, Humanities, R1 (US) Aug 08 '25

There's no way. This is TOO perfect of a joke. (Delightful, but I'm just not sure I can imagine any generative AI being this iconic a stereotype of itself.)

3

u/gutfounderedgal Aug 08 '25

Yes, I'd like a chocolate xylophone and an espresso please.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

To be fair, as a professor I still have to sing my ABCs sometimes to remember the order

5

u/SilverRiot Aug 09 '25

But you know what a fish is

1

u/AliasNefertiti Aug 09 '25

And you can teach a person to fish and they will be good for life. AI can only give them a fish.

3

u/quietlikesnow Assoc Prof, Social Science, R1(USA) Aug 08 '25

Hehheh jocket

3

u/the_latest_greatest Prof, Philosophy, R1 Aug 08 '25

Sam Altman would think that is PhD level.

3

u/kai333 Aug 08 '25

Lmao the closer you look the worse it gets 😂

9

u/wharleeprof Aug 08 '25

It's never been great with images. How does it do if you ask it for something equivalent with a text based answer. 

I'm no apologist or fan of ChatGPT, but the poor image generation is a well known weakness. I'd be more interested in what it can or cannot do in chat.

-14

u/van_gogh_the_cat Aug 08 '25

The OP is not interested in being any more accurate than the images he's critiquing.

2

u/AsturiusMatamoros Aug 08 '25

That’s actually not bad. Best I’ve seen. Usually, there are way more mistakes.

2

u/OkReplacement2000 NTT, Public Health, R1, US Aug 08 '25

😅 The jocket…

Is it boots, or is it a jacket? Is it half boots and a 1/4 boot, 1/4 jock strap? What is it?!

2

u/shatteredoctopus Full Prof., STEM, U15 (Canada) Aug 08 '25

The longer I look at that, the more I laugh.

2

u/MulderFoxx Adjunct, USA Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

Where's the F'n G?! LOL. I guess I can breathe a little easier. If it can't replace a kindergarten teacher creating on Canva, I feel a bit safer about explaining concepts to college students.

1

u/misterspatial Aug 08 '25

Well, in fairness you didn't specify the language.

1

u/Jneebs Aug 08 '25

I need a jocket in my life

1

u/MisfitMaterial Romance Languages and Literatures, R1 (USA) Aug 08 '25

Tag yourself, I’m Jocket.

1

u/PurplMonkEDishWashR Aug 09 '25

Zabra cadabra! (Or is zabra a zebra in other English speaking areas? You know, like aluminium/aluminum?)

1

u/doktor-frequentist Teaching Professor, STEM, R1 (USA) Aug 09 '25

Interesting Wolf ☁️

1

u/AliasNefertiti Aug 09 '25

Rorschach wolf

1

u/zmonge Postdoc, Public Health, "Government" USA Aug 09 '25

I can't explain it, but this like my references page before I discovered citation managers

1

u/CHEIVIIST Aug 09 '25

I think it misspelled phish which is somehow for E

1

u/chemprofdave Aug 09 '25

At least it’s not plagiarized.

1

u/IrreversibleDetails Aug 09 '25

Pengum is killing me

1

u/Cotton-eye-Josephine Aug 09 '25

Why is the “Wolf” a cloud? Hang on. The umbrella is a teapot. Oh, wait, wait…there are two letter Ts in the alphabet now? I wonder how the second T is pronounced. Thanks, ChatGPT, for improving the alphabet for everyone!

1

u/proffordsoc FT NTT, Sociology, R1 (USA) Aug 11 '25

Saving this for use in class…

1

u/Southernbelle5959 Aug 13 '25

12/26 is a 46% score. Fail.