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OpenAI unveils o3-mini model; Sam Altman calls it ‘smart and fast’

The o3-mini model is powerful and fast and it advances the boundaries of what small models can achieve.

The o3-mini model can also search the web, and it shows thinking. (Image: OpenAI)

OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman has unveiled the company’s latest AI reasoning model—o3-mini. Two weeks ago, when Chinese AI startup DeepSeek was basking in the glory, Altman had teased that the new 03-mini model would be shipped in a few weeks. Now, o3-mini model has been launched inside ChatGPT and its API services. The company has also made a version with rate limits available to free users of ChatGPT for the first time.

Altman, in his post on X, described the new model as smart and fast. He said that the model can search the web, it shows it’s thinking, and is available for free-tier users who can access it by clicking the reason button. The ChatGPT Plus users can opt for ‘03-mini high’, the version of the model that thinks harder and gives better answers.

o3-mini is out!

smart, fast model.

available in ChatGPT and API.

it can search the web, and it shows its thinking.

available to free-tier users! click the “reason” button.

with ChatGPT plus, you can select “o3-mini-high”, which thinks harder and gives better answers.

— Sam Altman (@sama) January 31, 2025

The o3-mini model was announced as a part of OpenAI’s 12 days of ‘Ship-mas’ last month. The model was developed to match the performance of o1 in areas like math, coding, and science, and respond faster than the current reasoning model.

“We’re releasing OpenAI o3-mini, the newest, most cost-efficient model in our reasoning series, available in both ChatGPT and the API today. Previewed in December 2024⁠, this powerful and fast model advances the boundaries of what small models can achieve, delivering exceptional STEM capabilities—with particular strength in science, math, and coding—all while maintaining the low cost and reduced latency of OpenAI o1-mini,” OpenAI wrote on its official website on Friday.

What is OpenAI’s o3-mini model?

The new o3-mini is a small reasoning model that has been designed for production with features like function calling, developer messages, and structured outputs. The model supports streaming and comes with three reasoning options—low, medium, and high—which allows flexibility in handling complex tasks or even prioritising speed

The model is being rolled out to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Prousers, and it triples the rate limit to 150 messages per day. Compared to o1, the new model does not have vision, but integrates internet search to offer up-to-date answers. Free users will be able to access the model for the first time, while Pro users will have unlimited access to o3-mini and o3-mini high.

When it comes to benchmark performance, o3-mini demonstrates significant performance improvements over o1-mini, especially in STEM fields. In mathematics, o3-mini achieves an 83.6 per cent accuracy on the AIME 2024 competition, surpassing previous models. Additionally, o3-mini delivers responses 24 per cent faster than o1-mini, with an average response time of 7.7 seconds compared to 10.16 seconds.