OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced today on January 23 that the free tier of ChatGPT will now use the o3-mini model, marking a significant shift in how the popular AI chatbot serves its user base. In the same tweet announcing the change, Altman revealed that paid subscribers to ChatGPT Plus and Pro plans will enjoy “tons of o3-mini usage,” giving people an incentive to move to a paid account with the company.
The o3-mini model is part of OpenAI’s latest advancements in its generative AI technology. Although smaller in scale compared to the flagship GPT-4-turbo model, o3-mini promises faster response times, reduced computational requirements, and the ability to handle simpler queries with ease.
This move aims to improve the user experience for free-tier users while allocating premium resources, like GPT-4-turbo, for paid subscribers who rely on the platform for professional and intensive use cases.
This update comes shortly after ChatGPT went down on Thursday, January, 23, at a time when OpenAI is focusing on balancing resource demands. ChatGPT’s free tier has historically been powered by earlier versions of GPT models, but integrating o3-mini represents a strategic pivot toward efficiency. It’s designed to serve the needs of everyday users with lightweight tasks like casual queries, brainstorming, and conversational interaction.
big news: the free tier of chatgpt is going to get o3-mini!
(and the plus tier will get tons of o3-mini usage)
— Sam Altman (@sama) January 23, 2025
