OpenAI has officially launched o3-mini, the latest addition to its family of reasoning models, designed to enhance both performance and affordability. This new model arrives just in time, promising to redefine how developers and businesses leverage artificial intelligence in technical domains. Starting Friday, users can access o3-mini via ChatGPT, marking a significant milestone in OpenAI’s ongoing mission to innovate cost-effective intelligence solutions.
The o3-mini model is strategically priced at $1.10 per million cached input tokens and $4.40 per million output tokens, making it 63% cheaper than its predecessor, o1-mini. This pricing strategy positions o3-mini as a competitive option alongside DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model, which charges $0.14 per million cached input tokens and $2.19 per million output tokens through its API.
In extensive A/B testing, o3-mini demonstrated a remarkable 39% reduction in "major mistakes" when tackling difficult real-world questions compared to o1-mini. Additionally, it provided clearer responses and delivered answers approximately 24% faster than its predecessor. These improvements are critical for users who rely on precise and timely information for complex tasks.
OpenAI has also ensured that developers have flexibility in how they utilize o3-mini. Users can select from low, medium, or high levels of "reasoning effort" based on their specific use cases and latency requirements. For instance, with low reasoning effort, o3-mini matches the performance of o1-mini, while medium effort brings it on par with the broader capabilities of o1. At high reasoning effort, o3-mini outperforms both o1-mini and o1 in various benchmarks.
“While o1 remains our broader general-knowledge reasoning model, o3-mini provides a specialized alternative for technical domains requiring precision and speed,” – OpenAI
The model has shown impressive results in programming assessments as well. It narrowly beats R1 on the SWE-bench Verified test, achieving a higher score by 0.1 point when high reasoning effort is applied. Moreover, o3-mini excelled on the AIME 2024 test, which evaluates the model’s understanding and response capabilities to complex instructions, but again only under high reasoning effort conditions.
OpenAI’s commitment to pushing boundaries is evident in this launch. They stated, “The release of o3-mini marks another step in OpenAI’s mission to push the boundaries of cost-effective intelligence.” This statement underscores the company's dedication to making advanced AI more accessible.
In terms of user access, those subscribed to ChatGPT Plus and Team plans will enjoy a higher rate limit of 150 queries per day with o3-mini. ChatGPT Pro subscribers will benefit from unlimited access to this new model. Meanwhile, users from ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Edu will gain access within a week.
“O3-mini with medium reasoning effort matches o1’s performance in math, coding and science while delivering faster responses. Meanwhile, with high reasoning effort, o3-mini outperforms both o1-mini and o1,” – OpenAI
The launch of o3-mini not only enhances OpenAI’s product lineup but also significantly improves performance on challenging safety and jailbreak evaluations compared to one of its flagship models, GPT-4o. This development highlights OpenAI’s ongoing commitment to safety and reliability in AI technology.
“Today’s launch marks […] an important step toward broadening accessibility to advanced AI in service of our mission,” – an OpenAI spokesperson
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