OpenAI’s Holiday Push and the GPT 03 Model: What Founders Need to Know

Holidays usually bring a well-deserved pause, but OpenAI has decided to give everyone an extra boost this season. They packed 12 major AI announcements into a short span, offering breakthroughs that might just change your strategy for the coming year such as the new chatGPT 03 Preview. model. Wow, didn't 01 just come out! Whether you’re looking to cut costs, speed up decision-making, or find fresh ways to scale, these updates have something valuable to offer.

From more powerful models that tackle complex problems to user-friendly tools that let anyone tap into AI’s potential, the excitement is real. Imagine entering the new year with a smarter, leaner operation driven by the latest tech—now’s the time to explore how these releases can power up your business before the holiday glow fades.

Here’s what you need to know about these releases, ranked by their potential business impact and how they can help solve real-world problems:

1. o3 and o3-Mini Models

The o3 model is a leap forward, outperforming human benchmarks on complex tasks like coding and problem-solving. Businesses can use o3 to automate workflows, generate insights, and tackle advanced tasks, while o3-Mini offers similar power at a lower price, making it accessible to startups and SMEs. Stay tuned as the full release is coming around January 10th.

2. ChatGPT Projects

This tool lets you chat with your own data, making it perfect for generating insights, improving customer understanding, and creating personalized reports. I get asked about accessing our own data, securely all the time and while it's not perfect yet, you can rest assured this this top of mind. Founders can quickly analyze trends or operational metrics without needing extensive data teams.

3. Canvas Upgrades

An enhanced interface for writing and coding collaboration, Canvas can streamline brainstorming, strategy drafting, and process documentation. It’s a great tool for founders managing remote or cross-functional teams. This is one of my favorite tools in ChatGPT for writing and is the inspiration for the Thought Flow platform we are building.

4. Video Chat with AI

The ability to interact with AI in real-time over video opens up opportunities for team training, customer support, or interactive onboarding experiences, helping businesses deepen engagement and streamline operations.

5. 1-800-CHATGPT

This hotline offers instant access to AI support, helping you and your teams solve problems, answer questions, or brainstorm ideas on the fly. It’s a practical step toward AI accessibility for less tech-savvy users.

6. Desktop App Advances

The upgraded desktop app now integrates with more tools and supports Advanced Voice Mode, enabling you to work seamlessly across devices and incorporate AI into their daily workflows.

7. ChatGPT Search for Free

Making advanced search tools available to all users helps you improve market research, competitive analysis, and customer insights without additional cost barriers. https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-search/. I can't wait to dig into this and see how it compares to Perplexity.ai which I love. I've always felt people would have a hard time competing with Google on this but so far that doesn't seem to be the case.

8. Sora Video Generation

OpenAI’s text-to-video tool enables businesses to create content quickly and affordably. Think marketing videos, training materials, or customer demos—useful for scaling content production. It's still hard to get in and I've heard Google's Veo2 is just better.

9. Reinforcement Fine-Tuning (Day 2)

OpenAI is expanding alpha access to a method that tunes AI toward complex tasks and specific brand requirements. This option suits specialized industries or teams that want tight control over their AI’s output.

10. o1 Model API and Price Reductions

Developers gain cost-effective access to o1, a powerful model that supports use cases like app development, customer automation, or AI-driven analytics. This is big for my techy friends!

11. o1 Pro Tier Access

The o1 model is now available on the Pro tier, enabling businesses to access high-performance AI without requiring a separate API.

12. Apple Integration

While underwhelming compared to the other releases, this feature offers limited Siri and writing tool integration for businesses in the Apple ecosystem. I'm glad I refrained from rushing to buy an iPhone 16/

Why It Matters for Founders

OpenAI’s recent updates reflect a clear shift from technical supremacy to broader accessibility. Whether it’s the cutting-edge capabilities of o3 or user-friendly tools like ChatGPT Projects and 1-800-CHATGPT, these innovations aim to meet businesses where they are.

For founders, the key takeaway is this: AI is no longer a tool reserved for tech giants. It’s becoming an essential part of running a modern business—offering ways to automate workflows, enhance customer experiences, and make smarter decisions. As OpenAI leads the way, the question isn’t whether to adopt AI but how quickly you can start leveraging these tools to gain an edge.

If you’re not already exploring these opportunities, now is the time. OpenAI’s rapid shipping shows that they’re serious about enabling businesses to execute better, faster, and smarter. Let’s take advantage.