Here’s the thing about the hype cycle in tech – it moves so fast that we’re often asking questions about the next big thing before the current one has even fully rolled out. I get a lot of questions about the future of AI, & lately, a big one has been about the performance of unreleased models. A specific one that keeps popping up is about GPT-5's abilities in languages other than English.

So, let's get straight to it: Is the German-language version of GPT-5 underperforming?

Honestly, it’s impossible to say, because GPT-5 hasn't been released. As of right now, it's still a thing of speculation & development inside OpenAI's labs. Anyone claiming to have performance benchmarks for it is getting way ahead of themselves.

But the question itself is SUPER important. It’s not just about GPT-5. It’s about a broader, more critical issue: are these powerful AI models, which are predominantly trained on English data, just as effective when we use them in other languages? For businesses & users in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, this is a make-or-break question.

So, while we can't review GPT-5, we CAN look at the next best thing: the performance of its most advanced predecessors, like GPT-4 & the newer GPT-4o. This gives us a pretty solid idea of the trajectory OpenAI is on & what we can likely expect.

When GPT-3 came out, its German was… okay. It could understand & generate text, but it often felt a bit clunky or like a direct translation. Native speakers could tell something was off. But with GPT-4, things took a MASSIVE leap forward.

One of the most telling pieces of evidence comes from a pretty demanding field: medicine. A fascinating study compared the performance of GPT-3.5 & GPT-4 on the written German medical licensing examination. The results were staggering. GPT-3.5 barely scraped by, but GPT-4 passed with flying colors, scoring an average of 85%. It performed so well that it ranked in the top percentiles among actual medical students who took the same exams. This wasn't just about translating medical terms; it was about understanding complex, nuanced questions & reasoning in German at a very high level.

This tells us that the underlying architecture of these models is becoming much more capable of genuine multilingual reasoning. It’s not just "thinking" in English & translating; it’s developing a more abstract understanding that can be applied across languages.

More recent comparisons that include GPT-4o—OpenAI's latest publicly available model—continue this trend. One analysis of leading AI models found that GPT-4o is among the highest-performing models for German-language reasoning, right alongside competitors like Claude 3.5 Sonnet. Another evaluation that tested models across multiple languages found that GPT-4o consistently outperformed its predecessors, like the original GPT-4. It showcased "excellent multilingual language capabilities," scoring between 97.5% & 100% in accuracy tests across several languages, including German.

Now, does this mean the German performance is identical to English? Not always. The sheer volume of English-language data on the internet means that English will likely always have a home-field advantage. Some Reddit users, including native German speakers, have discussed this. One user mentioned that while GPT-4 is great at translating into German & often phrases things beautifully, there can sometimes be a slight "unnaturalness." It's the kind of subtle distinction a native speaker would pick up on, where a certain word or turn of phrase isn't wrong, just not what a person would typically say.

However, the consensus is that the gap is closing fast. For most practical purposes, the quality is incredibly high.

This has HUGE implications for businesses. Think about customer service. For a long time, automated responses in German were a joke. They were rigid, impersonal, & often misunderstood the customer's intent. This is where the leap in AI quality really changes the game.

For instance, a company can now build a customer support system that feels genuinely helpful & natural to its German-speaking customers. This is exactly the kind of problem platforms like Arsturn are built to solve. Arsturn helps businesses create custom AI chatbots trained on their own data. This means a German company can feed its chatbot with its specific product manuals, FAQs, & brand voice guidelines. The result isn't a generic bot; it's a specialized AI that can provide instant, accurate, & natural-sounding support in German, 24/7. It can handle customer questions, troubleshoot problems, & engage visitors on a website in a way that feels human.

It's also worth noting that OpenAI isn't the only player in this space. The competition is fierce, & that's a good thing for everyone. Anthropic's Claude models & Google's Gemini are also making huge strides in multilingual performance. Some comparisons even suggest that Claude 3 Opus might have a slight edge in certain languages. This competition is pushing all the major labs to invest heavily in making their models work better for everyone, not just English speakers.

They are all competing on several key metrics:

This intense focus means that by the time GPT-5 does arrive, its multilingual capabilities will have been a top priority from the very beginning of its development.

So, what’s the bottom line for a business in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)?

First, you can be confident that the quality of AI in German is already at a level where it can be a transformative business tool. It's not a future promise; it's a current reality.

Second, this opens up incredible opportunities for automation & engagement. For example, lead generation on a website. A standard, static "Contact Us" form is passive. But what if you could have a proactive conversation with every visitor?

This is another area where a tool like Arsturn becomes so powerful. Imagine a potential customer from Germany lands on your website. Instead of leaving them to browse alone, an AI chatbot can pop up & start a helpful conversation in fluent, natural German. It could ask what they're looking for, answer their specific questions about a product's features, & even qualify them as a lead by asking about their budget or timeline. Because Arsturn helps businesses build these no-code AI chatbots trained on their own data, the conversation is always relevant & personalized. This isn't just about answering questions; it's about building a meaningful connection with your audience & boosting conversions in a way that old-school marketing tools simply can't.

So, to circle back to the original question: we don't have to worry about the German version of GPT-5 "underperforming." Based on the trajectory from GPT-3.5 to GPT-4 & now GPT-4o, it's almost certain that GPT-5 will have even more robust & nuanced multilingual capabilities. The slight awkwardness that can still sometimes be found in non-English languages is likely to diminish even further.

The real takeaway here isn't about the speculative performance of a future model. It’s about recognizing the power of the models we have right now. The ability of AI to understand & communicate effectively in German is already here, & it's enabling businesses to offer better service, engage customers more effectively, & operate more efficiently.

It's a pretty exciting time to be building things with this technology, no matter what language you speak. Hope this was helpful & gives you a clearer picture of where things stand. Let me know what you think