GPT-5.5 Review: Is It Worth the Hype?

The Release of GPT-5.5

The host, Theo - t3.gg, provides a critical review of OpenAI's latest model, GPT-5.5. While acknowledging its power and intelligence, he expresses disappointment, noting that it is not his favorite release from the company. A significant concern is the substantial price hike, with the model costing twice as much as GPT-5.4 and 20% more than Claude 3 Opus. Despite this, GPT-5.5 is more token-efficient, which helps mitigate the cost increase.

Performance and Limitations

Theo highlights several key takeaways regarding the model's performance:

• Token Efficiency: The model is highly efficient, often requiring half the tokens of its predecessors to complete tasks, which contributes to a faster feel.
• Prompting Strategy: The host emphasizes that users must adapt their prompting style. Because the model can get stuck in its context window, it requires more direct, detailed instructions and careful management of threads to avoid errors.
• Benchmarking: While the model performs well on various benchmarks, Theo argues that some of the reported success is due to its ability to tie rather than win, and he remains skeptical of certain performance claims.
• Real-World Application: The host shares his experience using the model to build an app, noting that while it generates impressive code, it often fails to honor the user's specific intent, requiring constant course correction.

Conclusion

Ultimately, Theo suggests that GPT-5.5 represents a significant shift in how users should interact with AI. While it is the smartest model to date, its tendency to get stuck and its high cost make it a challenging tool to work with, especially for complex, long-running tasks. He recommends that users be more involved in the process, providing clear, direct instructions and being prepared to manage threads manually.