Summary of "GPT-5.2 is the best model ever made*"

Summary of “GPT-5.2 is the best model ever made*”

Main Technological Concepts and Product Features

GPT-5.2 Overview Released as a new state-of-the-art large language model (LLM) from OpenAI, GPT-5.2 shows significant improvements in many areas but also notable regressions in some specific tasks.
Strengths of GPT-5.2
- Superior code generation, debugging, and tool calling capabilities compared to previous versions (GPT-5, 5.1) and other models like Opus and Gemini 3 Pro.
- Excels in reasoning-heavy benchmarks such as ARC AGI, GDP Val (knowledge work tasks), and software engineering (SWEBench Pro).
- Improved handling of long context windows (up to 256k tokens) with high recall and accuracy.
- Reduced hallucinations compared to competing models like Gemini 3 Pro.
- Better at science, math, and vision tasks, including tool usage accuracy (~98-99%).
- Enhanced UI generation capabilities with well-tuned gradients and design elements.
- New reasoning modes with configurable levels: none, minimal, low, medium, high, extra high, and Pro versions.
Regressions and Weaknesses
- Significant drop in 3D spatial reasoning tasks (e.g., Skatebench for naming skateboard tricks), with performance falling from ~97% (GPT-5) to ~4% (GPT-5.2 default).
- Extremely slow response times, especially in higher reasoning modes and Pro versions; some requests can take minutes to half an hour or more.
- Increased cost per token and overall pricing, with Pro versions being notably expensive ($21/million tokens in, $168/million tokens out).
- Some quirks and bugs remain, such as API timeouts and occasional failures even after long processing times.
- The model defaults to no reasoning in some cases, requiring manual setting adjustments for better performance.
Pricing and Efficiency
- Price increased compared to GPT-5 and 5.1, theorized to be due to releasing a fuller, less distilled version.
- Despite higher per-token cost, overall cost to reach a certain quality level may be lower due to token efficiency.
- Pro model pricing is substantially higher, reflecting deeper reasoning capabilities.
Model Variants
- GPT-5.2 Thinking: Multiple reasoning levels, with “extra high” providing best results but slowest speeds.
- GPT-5.2 Pro: Highest capability, especially for deep reasoning and coding, but very slow and costly.
- GPT-5.2 Instant: No reasoning mode, faster and cheaper, pushed as a useful option.

Reviews, Guides, and Analysis

Benchmark Results
- Skatebench (3D spatial reasoning): Major regression in GPT-5.2 default.
- ARC AGI: GPT-5.2 Pro extra high scores 90.5%, showing a 390x efficiency improvement over a year.
- GDP Val (knowledge work): GPT-5.2 thinking scores ~70.9%, a big jump from 38.8% for GPT-5.
- SWEBench Pro (software engineering): New state-of-the-art at 55.6% for GPT-5.2 thinking.
- Gemini 3 Pro is competitive in 3D tasks but lags behind GPT-5.2 overall.
User Experience and Workflow
- GPT-5.2 models follow instructions more precisely than competitors like Opus and Composer, which may produce smarter but less obedient outputs.
- The slow speed of GPT-5.2, especially in Pro and extra high reasoning modes, is a major downside for practical use.
- Integration into tools like Cursor has usability challenges (e.g., API endpoint customization issues).
- T3 Chat offers access to all GPT-5.2 versions for $8/month, with a discount code available.
Image and UI Generation
- GPT-5.2 produces high-quality UI mockups with consistent use of gradients and grid patterns.
- Improvements in frontend code generation and 3D visualization (React 3 Fiber, 3JS, Phaser) are noted but with some mixed opinions on 3D spatial understanding.
Community and Expert Opinions
- Matt Schumer, a respected early tester, praises GPT-5.2 Pro as the best coding model but notes its slow speed and occasional long thinking times.
- Other testers note the model’s ability to infer missing context and provide clear explanations, though prompting is critical.
- Some users find 5.2 to be faster than 5 and 5.1 when reasoning is disabled.
- The model’s improvements on hallucination reduction and handling complex tasks are widely recognized.

Key Takeaways

GPT-5.2 is a major leap in instruction following, code generation, and reasoning benchmarks, but at the cost of speed and price.
It excels in professional and knowledge work tasks, pushing closer to human-level performance in many areas.
The model’s defaults and reasoning modes affect performance significantly; users must choose settings carefully.
There are still niche areas like 3D spatial reasoning where GPT-5.2 underperforms compared to previous versions or competitors.
Integration and tooling around GPT-5.2 are evolving but have some rough edges.
The community and expert reviewers largely agree on its superiority but caution about its practical limitations.

Main Speakers / Sources

Primary Speaker/Reviewer: Unnamed individual with early access to GPT-5.2, providing detailed hands-on testing, benchmark analysis, and personal experience.
Matt Schumer: Early tester and reviewer known for in-depth analysis of GPT models, especially coding capabilities.
Ben Davis: Channel manager and commentator on model performance, especially UI generation and speed.
Flavio: Mentioned as having a differing opinion on GPT-5.2’s 3D and physics reasoning capabilities.

This summary captures the key technological insights, product features, benchmark analyses, user experience notes, and expert opinions discussed in the video about GPT-5.2.