OpenAI Slashes the Cost of Using Its AI With a "Mini" Model

OpenAI today announced a cut-price "mini" model that it says will allow more companies and programs to tap into its artificial intelligence. The new model, called GPT-4o mini and available starting today, is 60 percent cheaper than OpenAI's most inexpensive existing model while offering higher performance, the company says. OpenAI characterizes the move as part of an effort to make AI "as broadly accessible as possible," but it also reflects growing competition among AI cloud providers as well as rising interest in small and free open source AI models. Meta is expected to debut the largest version of its very capable free offering, Llama 3, next week. "The whole point of OpenAI is to build and distribute AI safely and make it broadly accessible," Olivier Godement, a product manager at OpenAI responsible for the new model, tells WIRED.