OpenAI Releases New Reasoning Models For Coding And Visual Tasks

OpenAI is rolling out a pair of new artificial intelligence models that mimic the process of human reasoning to field more complicated coding questions and visual tasks, the latest in a flurry of releases from the company to fend off renewed competition in the US and China.

The first model, called o3, spends more time computing an answer before responding to user prompts, with the goal of solving more complex multistep problems related to science, math and coding, the company said Wednesday. OpenAI is also releasing a model called o4-mini that performs well in similar categories but is meant to be more compact and nimble. Both are now available to OpenAI's paid users.

OpenAI said o3 and o4-mini are its first reasoning models that are able to respond by using all of ChatGPT's tools, including browsing the web and generating and analyzing images. The models are also the first from OpenAI that integrate visual information into the reasoning process, the company said, allowing the new systems to process blurry pictures as well as rotate or zoom in on photos while carrying out tasks.

OpenAI kicked off a frenzy around generative AI in late 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT, which was originally powered by a model called GPT-3.5. Since then, the company has released a series of increasingly sophisticated systems, including multiple reasoning models. But OpenAI also faces heightened pressure from Chinese upstart DeepSeek, Anthropic and Elon Musk's xAI, among others, which have released a steady stream of AI models that have a range of similar, cutting-edge capabilities.

Coding, in particular, has become a fast-growing application for generative AI — and a key battleground for OpenAI. Anthropic and Alphabet Inc.'s Google have both played up the coding capabilities of their newer AI systems. Other startups, including Cursor maker Anysphere, have also gained traction with AI tools for programmers.

To better compete in that crowded market, OpenAI announced the release of Codex CLI, an AI agent meant to work with models such as o3 and help people with coding tasks. The product is open-source, meaning it will be freely available to users. It also runs directly on a user's computer, working through the device's terminal software.

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman has previously said the company is working on an open version of a reasoning model to be released in the coming months, following DeepSeek's viral success with its open-source system, R1. Altman also said OpenAI will release GPT-5, a long-awaited new model, “in a few months.”