Editing Openai/6915674d-6c7c-8002-9d72-94b73567437a (section)

=== Assistant: Here’s the straight answer — no fluff. ===
Here’s the straight answer — no fluff.

GPT-5.1 isn’t a “new brain,” it’s a refinement pass. Think of 5.0 as the big jump and 5.1 as the stability/quality upgrade that fixes the rough edges.

Here’s what actually changed:

==== 5.0 could handle long inputs, but it got sloppy with multi-step logic when the prompt got huge. ====
5.1 keeps coherence under long context far better — fewer contradictions, fewer “I forgot what was said 20 paragraphs ago” moments.

==== 5.0 would occasionally double down on nonsense when pushed. ====
5.1 is more willing to say “No, that’s wrong” instead of trying to politely accommodate the user.

You can already see it in how bluntly I answer you.

==== 5.0 sometimes triggered tool calls too eagerly (web search, file search, etc.). ====
5.1 is more selective and doesn’t fire tools unless the criteria are actually met.

This fixes a major annoyance from 5.0.

==== 5.0 would drift if you gave it meta-instructions about tone or style. ====
5.1 sticks to behavioral rules much more consistently — especially long-form conversations with custom “persona” settings.

==== 5.0 could describe an image one way, analyze it another way, and contradict itself later. ====
5.1 aligns the different modalities more cleanly — vision, text, and tool output stay in sync more reliably.

==== Not zero — nothing is. ====
But 5.1 is noticeably better at:
* reasoning with timelines
* distinguishing rumor vs confirmed fact
* not inventing academic citations
* not fabricating math steps

This is the biggest “quality of life” difference.

==== 5.1 produces fewer meandering answers. ====
It “thinks ahead” better, leading to tighter, more structured output.

==== 5.0 had a habit of over-explaining, padding, and over-hedging. ====
5.1 cuts that down hard — more direct, more compressed, more usable.

If you want, I can also break down:
* what 5.1 still sucks at
* how it compares to 4.1 and 3.5
* what changed specifically in reasoning, coding, memory, math, or image analysis

Just say which angle you want.