OpenAI o3 Released: Benchmarks and Comparison to o1

OpenAI's o3 and o3-mini models, set to be released in early 2025, introduce significant advancements in reasoning capabilities through a process called "simulated reasoning," which enables them to pause and reflect on their thought processes, thus mimicking human-like reasoning more effectively than previous models. While o3 is OpenAI's most advanced and expensive model, estimated to cost up to $30,000 per task, o3-mini offers a more cost-effective option with a 63% reduction in costs compared to o1-mini, making it competitive with other models like DeepSeek's R1. Despite the impressive performance on various benchmarks, including the American Invitational Mathematics Exam and ARC-AGI visual reasoning test, the release of GPT-5 has been delayed to enhance its capabilities further. The models are accessible via ChatGPT and API, with o3-mini designed for situations requiring less computational power but still benefiting from advanced reasoning. OpenAI's strategic decision to release o3 and o4-mini separately rather than integrating them into GPT-5 highlights their ongoing commitment to enhancing AI's reasoning abilities, positioning these models as significant steps toward smarter AI systems.