Earlier this week, OpenAI’s CEO announced the company’s newest reasoning model, o3, is ready for public use after it passed external safety testing. The model will soon be available as both an API and ChatGPT model option in the coming weeks. On Thursday, it was confirmed that the lightweight version, o3-mini, will be made available to all users, including those on the free tier.
OpenAI first announced the release of the o3 model last December. The company’s President described it as a breakthrough with a significant improvement on its hardest benchmarks. The o3 model works differently than existing generative models, performing internal fact and reasoning checks before responding to a user’s query. This allows it to tackle complex tasks that would be difficult for conventional models.
The o3-mini model is a smaller, more lightweight version of the full o3 model. It is also smaller than the current model used for paid tier users, but it should provide faster response times and reduce compute requirements. Normally, the company uses a last-generation model for ChatGPT while offering limited access to its latest model, so offering free users access to o3-mini is a departure from this practice. Paid tier users will still have access to the current model, but they will also see increased use of o3-mini.
The announcement did not include any additional details on when the model will be available, but it confirmed that o3 is on its way to all users. Paid tier users pay a monthly fee, which increases depending on the level of access and benefits. The company has not yet stated when the new model will be available, but it is expected to be released soon.
