The Download: OpenAI's latest model, and 4D printing's potential

Last week OpenAI released a new model called o1 (previously referred to under the code name "Strawberry" and, before that, Q*) that blows GPT-4o out of the water. Unlike previous models that are well suited for language tasks like writing and editing, OpenAI o1 is focused on multistep "reasoning," the type of process required for advanced mathematics, coding, or other STEM-based questions. The model is also trained to answer PhD-level questions in subjects ranging from astrophysics to organic chemistry. The bulk of LLM progress until now has been language-driven, but in addition to getting lots of facts wrong, such LLMs have failed to demonstrate the types of skills required to solve important problems in fields like drug discovery, materials science, coding, or physics. OpenAI's o1 is one of the first signs that LLMs might soon become genuinely helpful companions to human researchers in these fields.