OpenAI rolls out the full version of o1, its hot reasoning model

• OpenAI released the full version of its o1 reasoning model on Thursday.
• It says the o1 model, initially previewed in September, is now multimodal, faster, and more precise.
• It was released as part of OpenAI’s 12-day product and demo launch, dubbed “shipmas.”

On Thursday, OpenAI released the full version of its hot new reasoning model as part of the company’s 12-day sprint of product launches and demos.

The model, known as o1, was released in a preview mode in September. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said during day one of the company’s livestream that the latest version was more accurate, faster, and multimodal. Research scientists on the livestream said an internal evaluation indicated it made major mistakes about 34% less often than the o1 preview mode.

The model, which seems geared toward scientists, engineers, and coders, is designed to solve thorny problems. The researchers said it’s the first model that OpenAI trained to “think” before it responds, meaning it tends to give more detailed and accurate responses than other AI helpers.

To demonstrate o1’s multimodal abilities, they uploaded a photo of a hand-drawn system for a data center in space and asked the program to estimate the cooling-panel area required to operate it. After about 10 seconds, o1 produced what would appear to a layperson as a sophisticated essay rife with equations, ending with what was apparently the right answer.

The researchers think o1 should be useful in daily life, too. Whereas the preview version could think for a while if you merely said hi, the latest version is designed to respond faster to simpler queries. In Thursday’s livestream, it was about 19 seconds faster than the old version at listing Roman emperors.

All eyes are on OpenAI’s releases over the next week or so, amid a debate about how much more dramatically models like o1 can improve. Tech leaders are divided on this issue; some, like Marc Andreessen, argue that AI models aren’t getting noticeably better and are converging to perform at roughly similar levels.

With its 12-day deluge of product news, dubbed “shipmas,” OpenAI may be looking to quiet some critics while spreading awkward holiday cheer.

“It’ll be a way to show you what we’ve been working on and a little holiday present from us,” Altman said on Thursday.