It doesn’t just “think”; it also does web research and cross-checks sources to reach a conclusion. Other ChatGPT models can browse too, but o3 digs deeper and pulls more sources (when I read its “thoughts,” it said it tries to fetch at least 10 sources).
This is similar to what Deep Research does, which makes sense because ChatGPT’s DR used the o3 model even before it launched. However, DR returns essay-length answers (and is limited to 10 uses per month on ChatGPT Plus), which isn’t always practical. o3 gives answers closer in length to the other ChatGPT models. There are Plus usage limits, but I had to use it quite a lot before hitting them.
The model “thinks” for several minutes before responding. Usually it’s worth the wait, except for simple questions another model could answer faster. For complex questions, o3 is often noticeably better. I tried tough coding prompts that 4o struggled with (confident answers with hallucinations), then asked o3 and got much better results. For bigger tasks I sometimes had to tweak the prompt a few times, but in most cases o3 eventually delivered (unlike 4o).
The model isn’t perfect. There are still hallucinations and mistakes. Neverthless, in my experience fewer than other models I’ve tried.
AI moves so fast that it’s hard to keep up. Last month o3 was probably the best model around, and now people say Gemini 2.5 has overtaken it. It takes time to use a new model enough to really understand its strengths and weaknesses.
I also played a bit with ChatGPT 4.5 and 4.1. I haven’t used them much yet and so far I’m less impressed.
I haven’t tried o4 or o4-mini-high yet. Assuming o3 is better, I’d rather wait a few minutes for deeper reasoning. For simpler questions I still default to 4o.
Featured image by Levart_Photographer on Unsplash.
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