OpenAI teases its ‘complex reasoning’ AI model called o1

The ChatGPT creator says its latest model is able to think about problems for a longer time and take multiple steps to find a solution.

OpenAI has shared a preview of its latest large language model that is focused on “complex reasoning”, the o1 model.

The company says an early version of this model is now available for ChatGPT subscribers and the company’s “trusted API users”. But the company noted that it is still working to make the o1 as easy to use as its other models.

OpenAI says this model is capable of “thinking” for a longer time when solving a problem and claims this process dramatically improves its ability to reason and answer more complicated questions.

“o1 uses a chain of thought when attempting to solve a problem,” OpenAI said in a blogpost. “Through reinforcement learning, o1 learns to hone its chain of thought and refine the strategies it uses. It learns to recognise and correct its mistakes. It learns to break down tricky steps into simpler ones. It learns to try a different approach when the current one isn’t working.”

Like any new AI model announcement, OpenAI made some large claims about the capabilities of the o1 and says it rivalled the performance of human experts in “many reasoning-heavy benchmarks”.

These comparisons can be difficult to verify, however. A report from the AI Index earlier this year claimed robust evaluations for large language models are “seriously lacking” and there is a lack standardisation in responsible AI reporting.

But according to OpenAI, this new model will be a significant improvement and will be able to handle complicated problems such as writing code more effectively.

“Our large-scale reinforcement learning algorithm teaches the model how to think productively using its chain of thought in a highly data-efficient training process,” OpenAI said. “We have found that the performance of o1 consistently improves with more reinforcement learning (train-time compute) and with more time spent thinking (test-time compute).”

The new model preview comes as OpenAI aims to raise $6.5bn from investors at a valuation of $150bn. Inside sources told Bloomberg that the start-up is also looking to raise $5bn in debt from banks as a revolving credit facility.

The new valuation will be significantly higher than the start-up’s previous valuation of $86bn and will make the company one of the most valuable start-ups in the world. It might also be a lifeline for the company – recent reports suggest OpenAI is facing astronomical costs.

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