OpenAI rolls out upgrade to reasoning model, new dev tools

The release Tuesday by OpenAI of OpenA1 o1, its reasoning model, in API, along with three new sets of tools for developers, is a “smart move that keeps [it] in the corporate/enterprise conversation, as so many customers are shifting their focus towards agentic applications over simpler chat-based applications,” an industry analyst said.

Jason Andersen, VP and principal analyst with Moor Insights & Strategies, also described it as “something of a defensive move, since we have seen AWS, Google, and Microsoft releasing API-based multi-model development frameworks such as Bedrock and AI Foundry.”

Some of those frameworks, he said, “do have OpenAI as a potential model target, but they also have new features such as model routing, which means that there is no guarantee that the framework vendor will consistently use OpenAPI.” 

Released as part of its 12 days of Shipmas campaign, OpenAI o1 in API is production ready, the company said, and contains vision capabilities that allow it to “reason over images to unlock many more applications in science, manufacturing, or coding, where visual inputs matter.” Other enhancements include function calling to connect o1 to external data and APIs, as well as an API parameter that gives a developer the ability to “control how long model thinks before answering.” It is available to Tier 5 in the API.

Other additions to the toolset include enhancements to the Realtime API, which, OpenAI said, “allows developers to create low-latency, multi-modal conversational experiences. It currently supports both text and audio as inputs and outputs, as well as function calling capabilities.”

Key among them is integration with WebRTC, an open standard that makes it easier to build and scale real-time voice products across platforms. “Our WebRTC integration is designed to enable smooth and responsive interactions in real-world conditions, even with variable network quality,” the company said.

Also launched were Preference Fine Tuning, which it described as a new model customization technique that makes it easier to tailor models based on user and developer preferences, and new SDKs for Go and Java, both available in beta.

Andersen described the latter as “quite interesting, since those are two languages heavily used by developers who are using the public cloud. This and the APIs provide a meaningful alternative to someone just using the models a cloud provider has ‘on the shelf.’” 

However, Forrester senior analyst Andrew Cornwall said, “when OpenAI says, ‘new tools for developers,’ they mean tools for AI developers — everyone else will start seeing things only after the AI developers get their hands on the goodies. That will take some time, since o1-2024-12-17 APIs are rolling out only to Tier 5 (their highest-usage users) today.”

He said that, looking at what was announced, “probably of most interest is vision support, a capability not in o1-preview. In addition, the latest o1 model should return more accurate responses and report fewer refusals than the preview.”

Math and coding capabilities, said Cornwall, “have improved from the preview, in some cases significantly — although o1’s reported score won’t dethrone Amazon Q as leader of the SWE-bench Verified leaderboard. OpenAI has also improved function calling and structured output — the abilities to call into a program from an AI query, and to return output in developer-friendly JSON rather than natural language.”

In addition, “[developers have] a new parameter to play with, reasoning effort, which will let them adjust between accuracy and speed,” he noted. “This will integrate nicely with WebRTC voice support — a pause for a few seconds is sometimes acceptable at a keyboard, but not when you’re having a conversation.”

He added,  “more developers will get a chance to play with OpenAI’s most powerful model, with SDKs for Java and Go moving from alpha to beta. Businesses are eager to use AI, but many have been waiting for the stability that a beta might afford.”

“In short,” Cornwall said, “this isn’t revolutionary — most of the capabilities have been available in different models already — but with this release, a single model gets better at many modes and for many classes of problem.”

Added Thomas Randall, director of AI market research at Info-Tech Research Group, “with increased openness and flexibility for developers, OpenAI is aiming to maintain its market share as the go-to model provider for builders. Deeper dependencies may form between OpenAI’s model provision and the software companies that are already utilizing OpenAI for their own AI-enhanced offering.”