I tested GPT-5's coding skills, and it was so bad that I'm sticking with GPT-4o (for now)

In my latest coding benchmark, GPT-5 stumbled badly, delivering broken plugins, flawed scripts, and confidence-laden wrong answers that could derail projects without careful human oversight. Here's what to know before you use it.

ZDNET's key takeaways

• OpenAI's new GPT-5 flagship failed half of my programming tests.
• Previous OpenAI releases have had just about perfect results.
• Now that OpenAI has enabled fallbacks to other LLMs, there are options.

So GPT-5 happened. It's out. It's released. It's the talk of the virtual town. And it's got some problems. I'm not gonna bury the lede. GPT-5 has failed half of my programming tests. That's the worst that OpenAI's flagship LLM has ever done on my carefully designed tests.

Also: The best AI for coding in 2025 (and what not to use)

Before I get into the details, let's take ...