Sam Altman Just Hinted a New AI Model with 'Strawberry' Tweet: GPT-5 Soon?

Altman’s strawberry tweet might hint at something big, but it could just as easily be another case of overhyped promises.

Two days ago, my X feed was flooded with images of strawberries, and it wasn’t because people suddenly developed a fascination with summer fruits. It all started when Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, posted a seemingly innocuous tweet featuring a picture of strawberries in his garden with the caption, “I love summer in the garden.”

At first glance, this tweet might seem like a simple celebration of the season, but given Altman’s position and the timing, the AI community quickly began reading between the lines. It’s almost like a ritual now—whenever Altman tweets something that seems trivial, it often ends up being a subtle hint about something much bigger brewing at OpenAI.

People in the AI community were quick to assume that this tweet was a reference to a recently announced internal project at OpenAI known as “Project Strawberry.” According to various reports, this project involves developing AI models with the capability to plan, navigate the internet autonomously, and carry out what OpenAI refers to as “deep research.”

The moment I heard about this, I couldn’t help but wonder: Could this be the model that finally blurs the line between human-like reasoning and machine efficiency? Is AGI here? Is it GPT-5? I have so many thoughts and questions.

The Mystery of Project Strawberry

So, what exactly is Project Strawberry?

Also known as Q* (pronounced Q-star), this project gained significant attention in 2023 following the drama involving Sam Altman and Ilya Sutskever, one of the co-founders of OpenAI. However, the groundwork for the project had already begun in early 2022.

Sam Altman and Ilya Sutskever

Key events in the development timeline include:

• Early 2022: OpenAI initiates efforts to improve the reasoning capabilities of their AI systems.

• Mid-2022: Ilya Sutskever, a leading researcher at OpenAI, spearheads what would later be known as Project Q*.

• Late 2022: The Q* team successfully trains the model to solve basic math problems.

• Early 2023: Tensions arise between Q* researchers and CEO Sam Altman regarding the direction of the project.

Project Q*’s architecture blends large language models, reinforcement learning, and search algorithms. It integrates deep learning methods, similar to those in ChatGPT, with human-crafted rules. The model may combine elements of Q-learning and A* search.

I find it fascinating how OpenAI is blending these methods. It’s like they’re trying to create a hybrid between human-like problem-solving and machine precision. Imagine an AI that can not only generate text but also plan complex strategies and execute them autonomously.

Why is it called Q?*