AI’s Biggest Leap Yet? GPT-5, Open LLMs and the Silicon Valley Shakeup

Ollie Carter

G'day everyone, welcome back to The AI Intelligence Podcast brought to you by Advancer - The AI Agency! Ollie here, and as always, I'm joined by the one and only Llew Jury. This week in AI has been, I mean, just wild. I don't even know where to start—actually, no, I do. GPT-5. It's here. OpenAI's gone and dropped what they're calling their biggest leap yet. And honestly, after playing with it, I kinda believe the hype.

Llew Jury

Yeah, Ollie, it's a proper game-changer. I was reading the OpenAI announcement and, look, they're not being shy about it. They're saying it's a significant leap in intelligence, performance, speed—the whole lot. Coding, health, writing, even visual stuff. It's like, every domain you can think of, GPT-5's just... better. And faster. And, well, smarter. I mean, I remember when GPT-3 came out and we all thought, "This is it, this is the future." But now, mate, it feels like that was just the warm-up.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, totally. Actually, this takes me back—bit of a tangent, but I remember the first time I tried GPT-3 for automating VC notes, I was blown away, but it still made these weird, clunky mistakes. Now, with GPT-5, I ran the same workflow and it just... nailed it. Like, it understood the context, the industry and AI jargon, even the little nuances. It's wild how far we've come in just a few years.

Llew Jury

And it's not just the model, right? It's the whole ecosystem. Gartner's new Hype Cycle just dropped, and they're saying AI agents and AI-ready data are the hottest trends. So, it's not just about having a smarter model—it's about how you deploy it, how you get the right data in, and how these agents can actually go off and do stuff for you. We're talking about autonomous, task-completing AI. It's not sci-fi anymore, it's just...Monday.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, and the agent thing is huge. I saw a piece on MarkTechPost about how these AI agents are now handling everything from research to, like, booking your meetings, running your code, even managing your emails. It's almost like having a digital team that never sleeps. And the infrastructure to support all this is evolving so fast—sometimes I feel like I blink and there's a new protocol or tool out there.

Llew Jury

Spot on. And, you know, building on what we talked about in our last episode—remember the quantum computing stuff?—all these advances are just compounding. The models are getting better, the agents are getting smarter, and the data pipelines are finally catching up. It's a bit overwhelming, but also, mate, it's the most exciting time to be in AI, hands down.

Llew Jury

Alright, so, while everyone's still buzzing about GPT-5, OpenAI went and did something no one saw coming—they launched GPT-oss. That's their first open-weight LLM in, what, five years? For ages, OpenAI's been copping flak for going closed-source, and now they're swinging back to community collaboration. It's a bit of a full circle, isn't it?

Ollie Carter

Yeah, it's wild. I honestly didn't think we'd see OpenAI open up again, but here we are. And it's not just a token gesture—GPT-oss is a proper, usable model. I was reading in Nature that they're also rolling out these "reasoning" LLMs, which, get this, can actually show their work. Like, step-by-step logic, not just spitting out answers. That's a big deal for transparency, especially in stuff like law or health where you need to know how the AI got there.

Llew Jury

Yeah, and the infinite context thing—mate, that's a bombshell. National Law Review was saying this could basically make the whole $1.2 billion RAG market obsolete. If your model can remember everything, you don't need all those fancy retrieval systems. It's a bit scary for anyone who's built a business around RAG, but for the rest of us, it's a massive simplification.

Ollie Carter

Totally. And Llew, this must hit close to home for you, right? I remember you telling me about your startup days, trying to build on IBM Watson back in 2019, finding limitations and you were looking for open-source AI. Must be a bit of déjà vu seeing OpenAI swing back to open weights.

Llew Jury

Absolutely. Back in the day, open-source was there for the SaaS and web platforms but not huge in AI. But like these times the power of open collaboration is real, but so are the risks—IP headaches, forks, you name it. Still, seeing OpenAI open up again, it feels like we're about to see another explosion of innovation.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, and I think it's gonna shake up the whole ecosystem. Like, if OpenAI's open-sourcing, you know the other big players are watching. We might see a new wave of community-driven models, or maybe even some wild new startups that wouldn't have been possible before. It's a bit of a reset, in a good way.

Llew Jury

Exactly. And, look, as we saw in previous episodes, open-source always brings out the best and and not sometimes not so great in tech. But if it means more transparency, more innovation and more people getting involved, I'm all for it.

Ollie Carter

Alright, let's talk about the people side of all this, because, honestly, the talent moves this week have been just as wild as the tech. Apple—oh man, they're in trouble. They just lost a dozen AI researchers to Meta, including a $200 million exec. That's not just a bad week, that's a full-on internal AI crisis.

Llew Jury

Yeah, it's a shocker. I mean, Apple's been lagging in AI for a while, but losing that much talent, and to Meta of all places, that's gotta hurt. It really makes you wonder about their AI strategy. Are they just not keeping up, or is there something deeper going on? Either way, it's a massive signal to the rest of the industry.

Ollie Carter

And it's not just Apple. We're seeing this everywhere—big tech poaching from startups, startups getting acquired just for their teams. I read a Harvard Business School piece saying generative AI is actually flattening management hierarchies. Like, managers are spending less time on admin and more on strategy, because the AI's handling all the grunt work. It's changing what it means to be a manager, or even a founder, really.

Llew Jury

Yeah, and the poaching is next level. I saw that story about Google hiring away a whole startup's leadership, and then Cognition swooping in to buy what's left. It's a feeding frenzy. And, as someone who's been through the startup wringer a few times I can tell you—when a big tech company comes knocking, it's hard to keep your team together.

Ollie Carter

Oh, for sure. Just like the early 2000's with job changes everywhere and now, seeing these massive moves, it feels like the stakes are even higher. It's not just about money, it's about being part of something that's actually shaping the future.

Llew Jury

Yeah, and it's not slowing down. If anything, the talent wars are just heating up. And with AI flattening hierarchies, automating more roles, and making teams more nimble, the old rules don't really apply anymore. It's a new game, and everyone's scrambling to figure out how to play it.

Ollie Carter

Absolutely. And, look, that's probably a good place to wrap for today. This week has been massive—new tech, open-source shakeups, and a talent market that's just, well, bonkers. But if we've learned anything from the last few episodes, it's that next week will probably be even wilder.

Llew Jury

Couldn't have said it better Ollie. And before we go, a shout out and thanks to the great team and our sponsor Advancer. Advancer are the AI experts providing real world AI and Automation strategy, AI products and customised AI solutions for your business. Check them out at Advancer.com.au! Catch you next time!

Ollie Carter

Cheers, Llew. Catch you next time, folks. Stay curious, and don't let the AI take your job—unless it makes your life easier, then maybe let it. See ya!