OpenAI has finally added file & image uploads to its o1 model

For those who aren’t caught up with OpenAI’s AI offerings, last year the company announced a new series of AI models, dubbed o1, designed to enhance problem-solving capabilities and complex reasoning skills. What sets o1 apart from models like GPT-4 is that while the latter generates quick responses, the former focuses more on deeper reasoning and problem-solving, taking more time to think before responding.

We got a glimpse of o1’s capabilities last year when a researcher used it to create a simple game using the Pygame video game engine. However, the o1 model had some limitations, with the biggest being that users couldn’t add images or files to their prompts. But this is changing, as OpenAI recently announced on Twitter/X that o1 will now support both file and image uploads in ChatGPT. This means that users will now be able to ask about objects in images, analyze documents, draw attention to specific areas, and much more.

Competition is kicking things into high gear

This isn’t the only update OpenAI is rolling out, as its o3-mini model is also gaining file and image upload support. Additionally, OpenAI has increased the o3-mini-high limits for Plus users by 7x, allowing up to 50 uses per day. This wave of improvements from OpenAI seems to be linked to the Chinese startup DeepSeek, which may have given OpenAI the push users wanted. And this isn’t the only major update we’ve seen in recent weeks.