Move to issue 03-mini model follows sudden arrival of much cheaper Chinese rival DeepSeek’s R1

OpenAI is releasing a new artificial intelligence model for free, after the company said it would speed up product releases in response to the emergence of a Chinese rival.

The startup behind ChatGPT is issuing the AI, called o3-mini, after the surprise success of a rival product by China’s DeepSeek. It will be available without charge – albeit with usage limits – to people who use the free version of OpenAI’s chatbot.

Reported move would make Japanese group largest financial backer of US startup behind ChatGPT

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The Japanese investment group SoftBank is reportedly in talks to invest up to $25bn (£20bn) in OpenAI in a deal that would make it the biggest financial backer of the startup behind ChatGPT.

The lender is considering putting a sum of between $15bn and $25bn into the San Francisco-based company, according to the Financial Times.

Wide-ranging investigation says impact on work likely to be profound, but opinion on risk of human extinction varies

The International AI Safety report is a wide-ranging document that acknowledges an array of challenges posed by a technology that is advancing at dizzying speed.

The document, commissioned after the 2023 global AI safety summit, covers numerous threats from deepfakes to aiding cyberattacks and the use of biological weapons, as well as the impact on jobs and the environment.