Lesson 1097 of 1455
Why AI Model Names Change So Often (Claude 4.5, GPT-5, Gemini 2.5)
Models update every few months. Knowing the version matters because behavior, price, and limits all change between releases.
Builders · Model Families · ~4 min read
The big idea
AI labs ship new model versions constantly — Claude 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 4.7; GPT-4, 4o, 5, 5.1; Gemini 1.5, 2.0, 2.5. Each version has different strengths, prices, and quirks. APIs let you pin a version; chat apps usually default to the latest.
Some examples
- You wrote a tutorial using Claude 3.5 Sonnet last year — Claude 4.5 may handle the prompt differently now.
- Your app pinned to GPT-4 still works — but GPT-5 is cheaper and better, time to update.
- Gemini 2.5 fixed the long-context regressions from 2.0 — re-test before judging.
- Old model 'gpt-3.5-turbo' is being deprecated — your code calling it will break.
Try it!
Check which model your favorite chat app currently uses (in settings). Note the version. Now you'll notice when it changes.
Key terms in this lesson
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Lesson help
Questions are best handled with a grown-up here.
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