What is ChatGPT o1, and what makes it different to ChatGPT’s previous AI models?
As one of the biggest companies in the artificial intelligence landscape, OpenAI is constantly introducing new tools and solutions that transform how we think about artificial intelligence. ChatGPT o1 is just the latest example – a model specifically designed for advanced reasoning.
Access to the “o1” model is just starting to roll out, following OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT Pro and the updates to its ecosystem during 2024’s “12 Days of OpenAI” in December.
However, hype for this model has been building for a while. Throughout August and September 2024, reports were constantly circulating about a new model, codenamed “Strawberry”. Initially though, no-one knew if this model would be a successor to GPT-4o, or something else entirely.
Now we know ChatGPT o1 isn’t really the “next step” from GPT-4o, but it is one of the most interesting and powerful models OpenAI has produced.
What is ChatGPT o1?
ChatGPT o1 (or OpenAI o1, technically), is a family of large language models from OpenAI, optimized for enhanced reasoning. Initially, these o1 models were intended to be “preview models”, providing users, and OpenAI with an opportunity to experiment with a new type of LLM.
OpenAI said that this series of models have been designed to spend more time “thinking” about a question or prompt before responding. This gives them the chance to reason through complex tasks and solve harder problems, specifically linked to things like coding, science, and math.
Like most OpenAI LLMs, o1 models are “transformer models”, but they don’t just use the basic approach of “weighting” concepts and understanding which words belong together to respond fast. They basically “think” about what the right approach is going to be to solve a problem.
The basic strategy involves “chain of thought” prompting – where a model reasons through a problem, step-by-step, in an iterative approach. To develop models that could follow this thought process, OpenAI used reinforcement learning, as other training techniques.
The Members of the ChatGPT o1 Model Family
Currently, there are three models in the o1 family – with varying levels of accessibility and performance metrics. These include:
What is the ChatGPT o1 Model (Previously o1 Preview)?
The full “o1 model” is the updated version of the original o1-preview release which was introduced by OpenAI in September 2024. According to OpenAI, the full version includes significant improvements, including a 34% reduction in making big errors when solving problems. It can also understand and analyze uploaded images, as well as text.
This model is available to access (with certain limitations), in most of the paid plans for ChatGPT, such as ChatGPT Pro, Team, Enterprise, and Plus.
What is the ChatGPT o1-Mini Model?
Similar to the smaller version of GPT-4o that’s available to users on the ChatGPT free plan, the o1-Mini model is a smaller version of the main model, designed for speed and efficiency. According to OpenAI, this model is particularly effective at managing coding tasks, making it an excellent choice for programmers and developers who need quick responses.
Again, this model is available on certain paid plans for ChatGPT, with limited access for most subscribers (except for ChatGPT Pro customers).
What is ChatGPT o1 Pro Mode?
The o1 Pro mode version of OpenAI’s o1 family is the most powerful version available right now. It’s only accessible to users on a ChatGPT Pro ($200 per month) plan. This premium model uses extra computing power to improve performance across challenging benchmarks. In fact, the model earned an 86% pass rate on the AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination) test, compared to the standard o1 model’s 78%.
With the o1 Pro Mode model on ChatGPT Pro, users can push the limits of using AI for advanced tasks like complex coding and scientific research. Plus, they still gain access to all of the standard abilities of o1, such as multimodal input understanding.
What is ChatGPT o1 Capable Of?
It’s worth noting that ChatGPT o1, or OpenAI’s o1 models – aren’t really an “upgrade” from GPT-4o. At least, not in the way you might think. These models are designed for a specific set of use cases – those that require deeper reasoning and stronger AI thought processes.
The model is still in its early stages and doesn’t have most of the features that make the standard ChatGPT models most people use today so useful. For instance, o1 models can’t browse the web, and they obviously provide answers more slowly.
However, OpenAI has already released a lot of impressive information showcasing how valuable this model might be for certain users. For instance, in a qualifying examination for the IMO (International Mathematics Olympiad), the previous GPT-4o model only solved 13% of problems correctly.
Alternatively, o1 solved around 83% of those questions correctly. Although the performance results vary depending on the model in question, o1 seems to be an excellent solution for users in search of advanced reasoning capabilities, improved reliability, and deep analysis. Here’s a quick look of the potential use cases for ChatGPT o1.
Scientific Research
The o1 models are perfect for various kinds of scientific research tasks – particularly the o1 Pro mode option. These models can annotate cell sequencing data, handle complex mathematical formulas, and easily analyze complex datasets.
With these models, scientists could develop and test hypotheses faster than ever, design unique experiments, and potentially make breakthroughs in fields like climate research or medicine. They can even automate time-consuming tasks like report generation and literature reviews.
Financial Modeling and Forecasting
Investors and financial analysts often rely on accurate data analysis and predictive models to manage changes in market dynamics and trends. The ChatGPT o1 models could help these organizations process financial data faster, identify trends, and generate more reliable forecasts.
This potential is further boosted by the fact that o1 models can actually “fact-check” for themselves. That means they’re more likely to deliver accurate responses.
Legal Research and Case Reviews
Professionals in the legal landscape often need to sift through huge volumes of case law documents and legal jargon to build great arguments for their clients. The ChatGPT o1 models could assist with this process by analyzing legal texts and summarizing key information for an argument.
Notably, since the o1 models also include image analysis capabilities, they could potentially assess images from crime scenes to help provide evidence from different sources. This could lead to faster more creative processes in the legal industry.
Transforming Coding
While previous GPT models from OpenAI have had some basic coding abilities, the o1 models seem to be a lot more advanced from a coding and programming perspective. They can generate and debug code, performing well in benchmarks like Codeforces and HumanEval.
The o1 models can identify performance bottlenecks in potential algorithms, assist in debugging by pinpointing potential errors, generate code for intricate tasks, and refactor code for improved maintainability and readability.
Reasoning, Brainstorming, and Ideation
Since they’re designed for more advanced reasoning, the ChatGPT o1 models are excellent for complex tasks, like brainstorming and planning, in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and mathematics) fields.
These models could help medical professionals develop treatment plans personalized to specific patients, plan comprehensive training strategies for professionals, or even assist with product development processes.
How to Use ChatGPT o1: Gaining Access
Once you know the answer to “What is ChatGPT o1?” the first thing you’ll probably want to know is how you can access it. Notably, OpenAI actually released the full version of the o1 model into ChatGPT accidentally in November, which gave a few users a quick opportunity to experiment with what the model could do. It quickly removed access, then decided to launch access to o1 models as part of its “12 days of OpenAI” event in December.
Currently, the ChatGPT o1 and o1-mini models are available (in limited capacity) to users on ChatGPT Plus, ChatGPT Team, and Enterprise plans. Edu users can also access the models on a limited scope. The only way to use the ChatGPT o1 pro mode model is to sign up for ChatGPT’s new Pro plan, which is available for $200 per month per user.
This plan also includes unlimited access to GPT o1, and GPT-4o. However, OpenAI says that “usage must be responsible and align with its policies).
Developers who qualify for the OpenAI API usage tier 5 can also start prototyping with both models immediately – although there’s a limit of 20 requests per minute for now. Additionally, various third-party service providers are also offering limited access to the models. For instance, you can experiment with certain features on Microsoft Azure AI Studio and GitHub.
For now, free users won’t have access, but OpenAI does say it’s planning on bringing o1-mini to all free users in the months ahead.
What is ChatGPT o1: The Limitations
We’ve discussed all the potential benefits and use cases of the ChatGPT o1 models so far – but it’s worth remembering there are limitations too. As mentioned above, ChatGPT o1 models don’t have access to the internet, like GPT-4o and other models.
They’re also a lot slower at responding to prompts – because they need to take extra time to break down questions and tasks into smaller parts. If you’re planning on having a fast-paced conversation with ChatGPT, it’s probably best to stick with another model.
In addition, for API users, OpenAI o1 is more expensive than previous models—including GPT-4o—and features more API restrictions. For instance, you can only send up to 20 requests per minute. OpenAI plans to expand the API’s functionality in the future, but for now, you might not be able to experiment as much as you like.
However, OpenAI has carefully considered safety, privacy, and security when addressing the new model’s limitations.
Is ChatGPT o1 Safe and Ethical?
OpenAI has grappled with the concepts of AI ethics, governance, and security for some time now. As new laws and regulations emerge, it’s becoming increasingly important for AI developers to address those problems upfront. Fortunately, OpenAI said it has developed a new safety training system specifically for its o1 models.
The company has produced something called a “system card”, which describes the safety evaluations and risk assessments done during model development. This makes the o1 models a lot more transparent (from a safety perspective) than some alternatives.
Additionally, OpenAI addresses safety, privacy and security concerns with:
- Chain of thought reasoning: With large-scale reinforcement learning and complex reasoning abilities, the o1 models can recognize mistakes as its working, fact-check answers, and better follow security policies, reducing the risk of dangerous content being generated.
- Jailbreak resistance: According to OpenAI, the o1 models demonstrate incredible improvements in resisting jailbreaks. In the Strong Reject benchmark test, for instance, the o1 and o1-mini models performed better than GPT-40.
- Content policy adherence: In the Challenging Refusal Evaluation test, which examines a model’s ability to refuse to create unsafe content, o1 achieves a not-unsafe score of 0.92, compared to GPT-4o’s score of 0.713.
- Bias mitigation: o1 selected the right answer 94% of the time on the Bias Benchmark test, compared to GPT-4o’s score of 72%. The models also demonstrate improved performance on evaluations addressing the use of age, gender, and race in decision making.
Who is ChatGPT o1 For?
Ultimately, the ChatGPT o1 models aren’t designed to replace GPT-4o on a broad scale. OpenAI hasn’t just “updated” its previous model – making everything better. It’s created a specialized toolset, specifically designed for certain use cases.
You probably won’t want to use o1 for all of your generative AI tasks. GPT-4o is still going to be better at handling quick conversations. Plus, it can recognize and understand audio, video, text, and images. Plus, it’s capable of browsing the web.
If you want speed and versatility, GPT-4o will still be the better model. On the other hand, if you’re looking for ultra-refined reasoning capabilities, the ChatGPT o1 models shine. They’re great for tackling complex problems in coding, science, and math.
However, if you are going to use these models, we recommend taking a careful approach. Don’t just use the o1 models like you would GPT-4o. Keep prompts simple and direct – with more open-ended questions that allow the models to use their reasoning capabilities.
Embrace the potential to ask more complex questions without providing additional prompting guidance like “think step-by-step” – these models are going to do that anyway. Additionally, be patient. The o1 models will take longer to respond – and that’s a good thing. It means they’re really “thinking” about the right answer.
What’s Next for ChatGPT o1 and OpenAI?
So, what’s next on OpenAI’s roadmap? Well, the company is already working on improving the ChatGPT o1 models. There’s a good chance they’ll add more features to bring these models more in line with what GPT-4o can do (like browsing the web). They’ll also introduce the models to more users, like people on the free plan, going forward.
In the meantime, OpenAI will continue working on more specific, hyper-focused models intended for particular use-cases, by the looks of things. Not only are the o1 models intended for users with specific reasoning needs, but OpenAI just released a new Sora model specifically intended for video generation too. This could be a sign that they’re moving away from more one-size-fits-all models, to create solutions that appeal to various different users.
Watch this space for more updates on OpenAI’s ever-evolving product portfolio, and if you want to learn more about the OpenAI company, you can find our complete guide here.
