Jan 17 (Reuters) - ChatGPT maker OpenAI has finalized a

version of its new reasoning AI model o3 mini and would be

launching it in a couple of weeks, CEO Sam Altman said on

Friday.

The Microsoft ( MSFT )-backed company has considered user

feedback and, consequently, plans to release the application

programming interface (API) and ChatGPT simultaneously, Altman

wrote in a post on social media platform X.

Last December, OpenAI said it was testing reasoning AI

models, o3 and o3 mini, indicating growing competition with

rivals such as Alphabet's Google to create smarter

models capable of tackling complex problems.

The AI startup had planned to launch o3 mini by the end of

January, and the full o3 thereafter, as more robust large

language models could outperform existing models and attract new

investments and users.

In September 2024, the GenAI pioneer released o1 AI models

designed to spend more time processing queries to solve harder

problems.

The o1 models are capable of reasoning through complex tasks

and can solve more challenging problems than previous models in

science, coding and math, the company had said in a blog post.

The new o3 and o3 mini models would be more powerful than

the previously launched o1 models, the company had said

previously.

Earlier this week, OpenAI said it was introducing a beta

feature called Tasks to ChatGPT, signaling its foray into the

virtual assistant space, competing with Apple's ( AAPL ) Siri

and Amazon's ( AMZN ) Alexa.

The release of ChatGPT in late 2022 sparked a frenzy of

investments in AI firms, with its growing popularity and new

product launches helping OpenAI close a $6.6 billion funding

round in October.