OpenAI has unveiled a new artificial intelligence (AI) model, dubbed “o1,” also known as “Strawberry,” which the company claims can reason similarly to humans. This development marks a significant milestone in AI technology, bringing AI closer to solving complex problems in fields such as mathematics, coding, and science.
The new model represents a crucial step in advancing machine cognition, with OpenAI positioning it as a powerful tool for professionals rather than general users.
The new model pushes OpenAI’s capabilities.
The release of the o1 model comes right in the middle of an arms race—or rather, an AI race of sorts. Companies like Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and OpenAI are working around the clock to create AI systems that can operate independently as so-called “agents.”
These agents are personalized bots designed to assist users in various tasks, such as communication, creative work, and interaction with the digital world.
OpenAI’s o1 model has been integrated into its ChatGPT Plus offering, making them accessible to developers and scientists starting on Thursday. The company claims the new models outperform existing ones, such as GPT-4o.
During a qualifying exam for the International Mathematics Olympiad, the O1 model scored 83 percent, a vast improvement over GPT-4o’s 13 percent. OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer, Mira Murati, emphasized that these models offer unprecedented visibility into AI’s thought process, allowing researchers to observe how it tackles problems step by step.
Reasoning capability like never before
The O1 model employs reinforcement learning to explore different strategies when responding to queries. While the process takes longer, making it more costly than previous GPT models, it is also more consistent and capable of handling more sophisticated tasks. Mark Chen, the lead researcher on the project, explained that the model can identify its own mistakes and correct them, improving its responses over time.
One of the most exciting aspects of o1 is its potential to transform online search. OpenAI is testing these capabilities through its SearchGPT tool, which could lead to a “new search paradigm” that enhances research and information retrieval. The model could drastically improve how users find and interpret information online by applying step-by-step reasoning and planning.
Is this the start of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)?
Experts in AI believe that the ability to teach models to reason and plan represents a crucial step toward artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is defined as machines exhibiting cognitive skills similar to humans.
If AI systems could genuinely reason, they would improve the consistency of these models’ facts, arguments, and conclusions, advancing their autonomy and problem-solving skills.
Yoshua Bengio, a prominent computer scientist and Turing Award recipient, noted that models such as GPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude have already demonstrated some initial reasoning abilities.
However, the scientific consensus remains that AI systems must still achieve actual general-purpose reasoning. Bengio highlighted the importance of independent scientific evaluations in properly assessing these advances without conflicts of interest.
Not all experts are convinced by the claims of humanlike reasoning. Gary Marcus, a cognitive science professor at New York University, cautioned that previous claims about AI reasoning have often failed to stand up to scrutiny. He advised a healthy level of skepticism when evaluating new developments in this area.
Safety concerns are ample.
As AI models grow more advanced, the risk of misuse also increases. Bengio pointed out that bad actors could exploit more capable software. In response, OpenAI has enhanced its safety protocols, including giving independent safety institutes in the US and UK early access to the research version of the o1 model.
The advancements in o1 are expected to drive AI progress over the next several years. Aidan Gomez, CEO of AI start-up Cohere and one of the original Google researchers who helped develop the transformer technology used in chatbots like ChatGPT, noted that teaching models to reason has dramatically improved their abilities.
However, he also mentioned that these models are becoming more expensive due to the computational demands of reasoning and planning before providing an answer.
As AI continues to evolve, models like OpenAI’s o1 could represent the next leap forward in solving complex problems and pushing the boundaries of machine intelligence.
