OpenAI launched its o3-mini mannequin precisely one week in the past, providing each free and paid customers a extra correct, sooner, and cheaper various to o1-mini. Now, OpenAI has up to date the o3-mini to incorporate an “up to date chain of thought,” and here is why it issues.
The replace
OpenAI introduced through an X put up that free and paid customers would now be capable to view the reasoning course of the o3-mini goes by way of earlier than arriving at a conclusion. For instance, within the put up, a consumer requested, “How is at present not a Friday?” and beneath the dropdown displaying how lengthy it took, the mannequin delineated each step in its chain of thought that allowed it to land on its reply.
Understanding how the mannequin arrived on the conclusion is useful as a result of it not solely helps customers confirm the accuracy of the conclusion, nevertheless it additionally teaches customers how they may have arrived at that reply themselves. That is notably helpful for math or coding prompts, during which seeing the steps might mean you can recreate them the following time you encounter an identical drawback.
Paid ChatGPT subscribers may also be capable to see the up to date chain of thought in o3-mini within the “excessive reasoning” effort. Because the title implies, “excessive reasoning” simply permits the mannequin to use extra compute energy for extra superior questions that require greater reasoning.
What’s Chain of Thought (CoT)?
Within the X put up saying the characteristic, OpenAI throws out the time period “Chain of Thought,” however what does it really imply?
In the identical manner you’d ask an individual to clarify their reasoning step-by-step, CoT prompting encourages an LLM to interrupt down a posh drawback into logical, smaller, and solvable steps. By sharing these reasoning steps with customers, the mannequin turns into extra interpretable, permitting customers to raised steer its responses and determine errors in reasoning.
Uncooked CoT would show each intermediate step in actual time because the mannequin causes by way of an issue. OpenAI’s tackle CoT on this replace will not be uncooked, as it’s summarizing the reasoning for customers. This has induced many AI aficionados within the feedback of the X put up to specific discontent with the characteristic, as uncooked CoT poses added advantages, akin to find out how to higher steer the mannequin and troubleshoot incorrect reasoning.
o3-mini is exceptionally nice, however I do fear that summarized chain-of-thought is definitely worse than nothing in any respect.
True CoT publicity acts as a immediate debugger. It helps us steer the mannequin.
Summarized CoT obfuscates this and probably provides errors – makes it onerous to debug. https://t.co/cgz6ONCkvk— Mckay Wrigley (@mckaywrigley) February 6, 2025
Some causes OpenAI might have chosen to go along with its tackle CoT are that it makes it simpler for everybody to grasp, and that exposing uncooked CoT might make the mannequin extra weak to jailbreaking makes an attempt.
Find out how to entry
To view the chain of thought, you don’t want to do something aside from choose the o3-mini mannequin to reply your immediate. In case you are a subscriber, you possibly can choose “o3-mini” or “o3-mini-high” from the mannequin toggle dropdown within the higher left-hand nook. As soon as it’s chosen, any immediate you enter will routinely present its reasoning course of.
In case you are a free consumer, all it’s important to do is click on on “Purpose” within the message textbox or regenerate a response to activate o3-mini. When you do, you possibly can simply enter a immediate as normal and see the magic for your self.