--- title: "As Hype Fades, OpenAI Suddenly Cancels Release of Its Hot Upcoming AI" description: "Sam Altman has quietly announced that OpenAI won't be releasing o3, its allegedly super-advanced new model, as a standalone product." date: "2025-02-12" modified: "2025-02-12" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/openai-o3-release" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "chatgpt" - "deepseek" - "o3" - "OpenAI" --- # As Hype Fades, OpenAI Suddenly Cancels Release of Its Hot Upcoming AI ![Sam Altman has quietly announced that OpenAI won't be releasing o3, its allegedly super-advanced new model, as a standalone product.]() *\Image: Joel Saget / AFP via Getty / Futurism\* ## OpenAI Season As the AI industry gets more and more crowded — and its [hype ]()[more diffuse]() — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has quietly announced that the company won't be releasing its super-advanced new reasoning model as a standalone product. In a statement posted on his arch-nemesis Elon Musk's social network, [Altman wrote circuitously]() around the previously slated launch of o3, the latest [awkwardly-named]() version of its frontier reasoning model that's said to sometimes cost more than [$1,000 worth]() of computing power per query. "In both ChatGPT and our API, we will release GPT-5 as a system that integrates a lot of our technology, including o3," the CEO said. "We will no longer ship o3 as a standalone model." That buried bit of the lengthy statement is, as [*TechCrunch* flagged](), a stark reversal from recent comments from OpenAI executives who claimed that o3's full, standalone launch was [slated for launch]() in February or March. According to Altman, this product launch mixup is part of a greater drive to simplify what OpenAI is selling. "We realize," he wrote, "how complicated our model and product offerings have gotten." Be that as it may, scuttling o3 this close to its purported launch — and so soon after the Chinese AI company DeepSeek issued a [ringing blow to OpenAI]() and every other mainstream AI company with its claims of a [low-energy, high-powered chatbot]() — seems telling. Since [unleashing ChatGPT onto the world]() in November 2022, OpenAI has struggled to create as many waves as that first world-changing announcement. With each subsequent GPT large language model (LLM) launch being incorporated into the company's suite of products, there has, of course, been ample splash — but with each new one, there's been [demonstrably less](). With its claims of self-fact-checking, the launch of o1 last fall indeed got some splash. But it faded quickly — and when's the last time you heard about something actually exciting happening with it? Were Altman et al looking to avoid a bellyflop if o3 didn't turn out to be as much of a step forward as its predecessors? At this point, we'll probably never know — but one thing's for sure: a lot is going to be riding on whether GPT-5 can really break through. **More on OpenAI hype:** [*Researchers Replicate OpenAI's Hot New AI Tool in 24 Hours*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()