Welcome to Tech Minute, your quick dive into the latest breakthroughs in artificial intelligence!
It’s Friday, November 14, 2025, and we’re here to talk about the freshly released ChatGPT 5.1 from OpenAI, which just dropped yesterday—November 13th.
So, what’s new with ChatGPT 5.1? Well, it’s an evolutionary upgrade to the blockbuster GPT-5 model that launched this past August. OpenAI has rolled it out in two distinct modes: Instant and Thinking. Instant mode delivers speedy, on-the-fly responses perfect for everyday queries, while Thinking mode takes a bit more time to provide deeper, more thoughtful answers, especially for complex questions. This is thanks to a neat trick called adaptive computation, which essentially allows the model to “think” longer when needed and speed up for simpler tasks.
Now, how can you get your hands on it? ChatGPT 5.1 is currently available for ChatGPT Plus subscribers as the new default. Regular free-tier users still have GPT-3.5 for now, but API access for 5.1 is expected soon. What about the benefits? Compared to GPT-5, version 5.1 is smarter at following instructions, better at planning code, and less prone to hallucinating wrong answers. It’s also more conversational and customizable, making it a smoother, more reliable assistant whether you’re coding, brainstorming, or just chatting.
In short, ChatGPT 5.1 isn’t just faster and cheaper — it’s more precise, adaptable, and ready to make your AI experience smarter and more intuitive. That’s your AI update in under two minutes! Stay tuned for more, and thanks for listening to Tech Minute.
