In response to pressure from rivals including Chinese AI company DeepSeek, OpenAI is changing the way its newest AI model, o3-mini, communicates its step-by-step thought process.On Thursday, OpenAI announced that free and paid users of ChatGPT, the companys AI-powered chatbot platform, will see an updated chain of thought that shows more of the models reasoning steps and how it arrived at answers to questions. Subscribers to premium ChatGPT plans who use o3-mini in the high reasoning configuration will also see this updated readout, according to OpenAI. Were introducing an updated [chain of thought] for o3-mini designed to make it easier for people to understand how the model thinks, an OpenAI spokesperson told TechCruch via email. With this update, you will be able to follow the models reasoning, giving you more clarity and confidence in its responses.Image Credits:OpenAIReasoning models like o3-mini thoroughly fact-check themselves before giving out results, whichhelps them toavoid some of thepitfallsthat normally trip up models. The trade-off is that reasoning models take a little longer to arrive at solutions typically seconds to minutes longer.DeepSeeks R1 model, a reasoning model along the lines of o3-mini, reveals its full thought process, which many AI researchers argue is the preferred approach. In addition to making the model easier to study, the reasoning steps deliver a better user experience in certain situations, helping indicate when the model might be on the right or wrong track. OpenAI had opted not to show the full reasoning steps for o3-mini and its predecessors, o1 and o1-mini, in part due to competitive reasons. Instead, users only saw summaries of the reasoning steps summaries that were at times erroneous.OpenAI still isnt showing o3-minis full reasoning steps, but the company said it found a balance: o3-mini can think freely and then organize its thoughts into more detailed summaries. To improve clarity and safety, weve added an additional post-processing step where the model reviews the raw chain of thought, removing any unsafe content, and then simplifies any complex ideas, the OpenAI spokesperson continued. Additionally, this post-processing step enables non-English users to receive the chain of thought in their native language, creating a more accessible and friendly experience.In a Reddit AMA last week, Kevin Weil, OpenAIs chief product officer, hinted that the change was coming.Were working on showing a bunch more than we show today [showing the model thought process] will be very, very soon, he said. TBD on all showing all chain of thought leads to competitive distillation, but we also know people (at least power users) want it, so well find the right way to balance it.