GPT-5 and Agents Breakdown – w/ OpenAI Researchers Isa Fulford & Christina Kim
About this episode
From the show’s notesChatGPT-5 just launched, marking a major milestone for OpenAI and the entire AI ecosystem.
Fresh off the live stream, Erik Torenberg was joined in the studio by three people who played key roles in making this model a reality:
Read the show’s notes in full
Christina Kim, Researcher at OpenAI, who leads the core models team on post-training
Isa Fulford, Researcher at OpenAI, who leads deep research and the ChatGPT agent team on post-training
Sarah Wang, General Partner at a16z, who helped lead our investment in OpenAI since 2021
They discuss what’s actually new in ChatGPT-5—from major leaps in reasoning, coding, and creative writing to meaningful improvements in trustworthiness, behavior, and post-training techniques.
We also discuss:
How GPT-5 was trained, including RL environments and why data quality matters more than ever
The shift toward agentic workflows—what “agents” really are, why async matters, and how it’s empowering a new golden age of the “ideas guy”
What GPT-5 means for builders, startups, and the broader AI ecosystem going forward
Whether you're an AI researcher, founder, or curious user, this is the deep-dive conversation you won't want to miss.
Timecodes:
Resources
Find Christina on X: x.com/christinahkim
Find Isa on X: x.com/isafulf
Find Sarah on X: x.com/sarahdingwang
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