7 Gaps ChatGPT-5 Won’t Fix

Janine Dormiendo
Aug 13
3 min read

An Envisago Guide for Leaders Who Want AI That Works in the Real World

The hype around ChatGPT-5 is enormous — and for good reason. Its capabilities are impressive. But if your organisation is already struggling to get value from AI, the new model will not be a magic bullet.

In our work with senior leadership teams, we’ve seen a consistent truth: most AI underperformance has little to do with the model itself. Instead, it stems from the organisation’s readiness — or lack of it — to put AI to work.

That readiness includes data quality, operational design, leadership alignment, and cultural willingness to adopt new ways of working. Without those foundations, even the most advanced model will fail to deliver a return on investment.

Here are the seven critical gaps no version of ChatGPT — past, present, or future — can solve for you.

1. The Data Gap

There’s a myth that advanced AI can transform messy, unstructured data into instant business value. In reality, without semantic structure and meaningful context, even ChatGPT-5 is working in the dark.

Leaders often discover too late that their data is more of a liability than an asset.

Building disciplined, structured data practices — from consistent metadata in knowledge bases to well-defined operational records — is unglamorous work, but it is the essential foundation for AI performance.

2. Wrong-Sized Intelligence

Bigger isn’t always better. We often see organisations default to the largest, most expensive AI models for every task — the equivalent of hiring a senior strategist to alphabetise a filing cabinet.

Intelligent deployment means matching capability to requirement. Sometimes the solution is an advanced reasoning model. Sometimes it’s a simple retrieval process. The sophistication lies in designing the workflow, not just in buying more power.

3. KPI Drift

AI initiatives without clear, measurable KPIs lose direction. Without an agreed definition of success, projects meander, lose stakeholder interest, and eventually get cut.

A strong KPI anchors the work to a meaningful business outcome, keeps momentum through setbacks, and ensures AI adoption stays linked to strategy. Without that anchor, your ChatGPT-5 project will quietly fade before delivering any value.

4. Strategy in Silos

When AI strategy lives in isolation from overall business strategy, the result is fragmentation. An “AI team” working in a vacuum misses integration opportunities, duplicates effort, and leaves value untapped.

Embedding AI into the organisation’s strategic plan — and ensuring leaders are fluent enough to see leverage points — ensures that AI delivers across both customer experience and internal operations.

5. Change Management Last

The biggest underinvestment in AI is not technology — it’s change management. Many organisations assume employees will naturally integrate AI into their work. Without a structured adoption plan, early enthusiasm fades quickly.

Lasting transformation requires leadership modelling, practical training, and cultural reinforcement. AI readiness isn’t just a software rollout; it’s a behavioural shift.

6. Unsustainable AI Economics

The launch cost of AI is only the beginning. Ongoing inference costs, developer support, model evaluation, and scaling overheads can quietly erode margins.

Treating AI as “set and forget” software is a fast route to spiralling costs and declining performance. Sustainable AI economics demand continuous monitoring, optimisation, and strategic cost management over the long term.

7. The Leadership Gap

AI transformation stalls in organisations where leaders don’t actively use AI. Without executive fluency, adoption never gains full cultural or strategic traction.

Leaders shape the narrative of AI — how it’s perceived, prioritised, and embedded. Building leadership capability in AI is now as fundamental as financial literacy.

Food For Thought…

ChatGPT-5 is a powerful engine. But without disciplined data, intelligent design, aligned leadership, and a culture ready for change, it will stall.

The organisations that will thrive in this next wave are the ones investing in AI readiness now — not just in the technology itself.

If you want to assess where your business stands and create a clear plan to close the gaps, download The AI Transformation Maturity Model. This resource provides a structured framework to assess your organisation’s AI readiness.