OpenAI launches o3-mini to take on DeepSake's cost-effective model

OpenAI

OpenAI has unveiled its latest AI model, the o3-mini, as part of its ongoing efforts to enhance performance and efficiency in AI-driven tasks. Announced during OpenAI’s 12-day “ship-mas” event in December 2024, the o3-mini is designed to match the capabilities of its predecessor, o1, in math, coding, and science, while delivering faster response times.

In a blog post, OpenAI said that the new model is 24% quicker than the o1-mini and offers improved accuracy. Like the o1-mini, the o3-mini provides detailed explanations for its answers, making it a valuable tool for users seeking transparency in AI reasoning.

“The release of OpenAI o3-mini marks another step in OpenAI’s mission to push the boundaries of cost-effective intelligence. By optimizing reasoning for STEM domains while keeping costs low, we’re making high-quality AI even more accessible,” said OpenAI.

How much better is the o3-mini?

In the blog post, OpenAI said that early benchmarks from December indicated that the o3 model outperformed o1 in various tasks. The o3-mini is now set to surpass o1 in coding and reasoning tasks while reducing costs and latency, according to OpenAI.

Developers can access the o3-mini through OpenAI’s API services, including the Chat Completions API, Assistants API, and Batch API. Paid users will also have the option to use o3-mini-high, which OpenAI describes as the “best coding option in ChatGPT,” offering higher intelligence responses with slightly longer processing times. Additionally, o3-mini integrates search functionality to provide answers with links to web sources.

Furthermore, OpenAI is making its reasoning models available to free ChatGPT users for the first time. This follows Microsoft’s decision to offer o1 to all Copilot users at no cost and DeepSeek’s recent advancements in the AI space.

Free users can access o3-mini by selecting the Reason feature in ChatGPT, with rate limits similar to GPT-4o. ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro users will also gain access to o3-mini, with OpenAI tripling daily message limits for Plus and Teams users to 150 messages. Pro users, who pay $200 monthly, will enjoy unlimited access.

Microsoft has also announced that o3-mini will be available through its Azure OpenAI Service, GitHub Copilot, and GitHub models, further expanding its reach.