“The Great Reset"

If you've felt a rising sense of frustration with AI lately, you're not alone. For many, the recent release of "ChatGPT-5" felt less like an upgrade and more like a betrayal.

Workflows that ran smoothly for months suddenly broke. Prompts that delivered perfect results now yield confusion. The intuitive tool that felt like a partner now feels like a stranger. Many have thrown their hands up, declaring, "It just doesn't do what it used to do."

They are right, but they are also wrong.

The tool is more powerful than ever. The problem is that OpenAI, in its race to innovate, failed to provide an instruction manual. They handed us the keys to a Formula 1 car but forgot to tell us it has a completely new dashboard and a different way of handling.

This "Great Reset" is the single best argument for why the future of AI productivity isn't about the tool itself, but about how we are trained to use it.

What Really Happened with "GPT-5"?

The confusion with GPT-5 stems from a fundamental change in its architecture. It's no longer a single, monolithic engine. Think of it as a brilliant, but very literal, manager standing in front of a room full of specialists.

The old models (your specialists for writing, coding, data analysis, etc.) are still there, but they are now "behind the scenes." GPT-5 acts as a router. If you don't give it specific instructions, it takes its best guess at which specialist to use, often with mediocre results.

To get the power out of GPT-5, you have to learn to speak its new language. You have to manage the manager.

This involves being explicit about things we never had to before:

• Thinking Level: You need to tell it how much to think. Should it "think hard" on a complex problem, or just make a quick alteration?

• Verbosity: You must specify the desired output length. Do you want "low verbosity" (a one-sentence answer) or "high verbosity" (a detailed report)?

• Tool Selection: You have to guide it on which tools to use. Explicitly telling it to "use reasoning" or "use web research" are now keys to unlocking proper analysis.

Without these instructions, you're leaving the outcome to chance. With them, you unlock a level of capability far beyond what was previously possible.

The Gap is an Illusion: You Haven't Been Left Behind

Hearing this might feel overwhelming, especially if you're just starting. It can feel like the gap between the experts and beginners is widening into a chasm.

This is an illusion.

The secret is that everyone is a beginner again with each major platform shift. The playing field has been reset. And while the experts are figuring out the new advanced commands, the most valuable uses of AI remain simple, accessible, and incredibly powerful.

Don't get lost in the complexity. You can start delivering value today with basic AI uses that solve everyday problems.

Two Simple, Powerful AI Uses You Can Try Right Now:

1. The Instant Product Comparison: Do you have two competing vendor proposals as PDFs? Instead of spending an hour cross-referencing them, simply upload both documents and ask: "Compare these two documents. Create a table showing the key differences in features, pricing, and contract terms." You've just saved yourself an hour of tedious work.

2. The Spreadsheet Whisperer: Have a spreadsheet of sales data you can't make sense of? Don't spend a day wrestling with pivot tables. Upload the file and ask: "Analyze this spreadsheet. Identify the top 3 most significant trends in the numbers and explain what they mean for the business." You've just turned raw data into actionable insight.

These tasks don't require complex commands. They solve real problems and build the foundational skills you need to grow.

The Path Forward is Training

The "GPT-5" debacle proves that relying on intuitive use is a failing strategy. The tools are becoming too powerful and too complex to just "figure out."

This is why at Kerzie Consulting, our focus isn't on the tools themselves, but on training people how to think about and use them. We teach you to be the pilot, not a passenger. We show you how to give the right instructions to get the right results, turning frustration into mastery.

The power of AI isn't in the code; it's in the clarity of the user's request. And that is a skill that can be taught.

Best,
Wade