Beer with Kyle: UX Updates, GPT-5, and What’s Next at WA

Hey Everyone,

Today I’ve got a couple of things to cover:

1. A design update to the Wealthy Affiliate interface that’s subtle but important—preparing us for future features and making the UX more adaptable to your needs.
   
2. My early thoughts on GPT-5, plus a request for your feedback if you’ve been using it.

But first, the beer.

This Week’s Beer: High Five Hazy IPA from Yellow Dog Brewing

Today’s choice comes from Yellow Dog Brewing Co. out in Port Moody, just outside of Vancouver.

I’m enjoying their High Five Hazy IPA, one of my favorites. Yellow Dog makes great IPAs, and if you’ve ever tried their one in the black can, you know what I mean. This hazy version is a little on the sweeter side, and it’s going down nicely in my Wealthy Affiliate glass.

WA UX Update: More Space, More Focus.

If you’ve logged into WA recently, you might have noticed a small but useful addition—you can now toggle the sidebar to give yourself more working space.

You’ll find the toggle button at the top left of the screen. Click it, and the sidebar collapses so you can focus more on your task—whether that’s writing content, managing campaigns, or using one of our new tools.

This update is part of a much bigger effort. Over the last three weeks, we’ve rolled out significant backend changes, about 30,000 lines of code were touched in the latest release. Much of this work isn’t visible, but it makes the app faster, more efficient, and ready for more advanced tools in the months ahead.

Other updates in motion:

• New Jaaxy – Coming later this month.
• A second undisclosed project – Launching within weeks.
• Full Hubs rebuild – Planned for late August or early September.
• Hosting infrastructure upgrades – Faster PHP 8.3 environment, better performance, and more robust fixes.

Yes, this update brought a few bugs (when you touch that much code, you expect it). One example: some SiteContent articles were showing up blank. That’s now fixed—your articles will appear properly under My Content.

GPT-5: My Early Impressions...

Now, onto GPT-5. It’s rolling out globally, and many in North America already have access. If you’ve used it, I’d love to know what you think.

Each major GPT release has gotten more capable:

• GPT-3: Like talking to a high school student.
• GPT-4: Like a knowledgeable college student.
• GPT-5: Sam Altman (OpenAI’s CEO) says it’s like having a PhD in almost any subject at your fingertips.

The goal is to eventually reach AGI—where the model is as intelligent as the sum of all human knowledge. That’s when you’ll be able to take almost any idea and bring it to life, from apps and designs to full business concepts.

I’ve been testing:

• Agent Mode – Think of it like assigning a virtual employee to work on multi-step tasks. It can take 15–20 minutes, but the results can be huge. The other day, it produced six blog posts and 15 emails in one go.
• Deep Research & Think Longer – Lets the model process problems in more depth for better outcomes.
• File & Photo Uploads – You can now ask questions about your own files and images.

So far, I haven’t noticed a dramatic difference in content quality versus GPT-4, but coding and app development capabilities are reportedly much better. That’s something I’ll be testing soon.

Your Turn!

I’d like to hear from you:

• Have you used GPT-5 yet? If so, what’s your impression?
• Any new use cases or prompt ideas that have been working better than before?
• How do you feel about the new collapsible sidebar in WA?

Drop your feedback in the comments below!