OpenAI has confirmed it won’t release a highly anticipated AI model, code-named “Orion,” before year-end, countering speculation on its product roadmap. A company spokesperson clarified to TechCrunch, “We don’t have plans to release a model code-named Orion this year. We do plan to release a lot of other great technology.”
On Thursday, The Verge reported that Orion—expected to be OpenAI’s next major model upgrade—would debut in December, initially available to a select group of partners. Microsoft, a key investor in OpenAI, is reportedly set to preview Orion as early as November. OpenAI had previously stated to TechCrunch that the report was inaccurate but refrained from giving further specifics.
Orion, described as an advancement over OpenAI’s current flagship, GPT-4o, is said to incorporate synthetic training data from OpenAI’s reasoning model, “o1.” OpenAI’s strategy suggests a dual approach: the continued evolution of “GPT” models, alongside models like o1 designed for unique reasoning tasks.
Yet, OpenAI’s statement leaves room for interpretation. It’s possible that Orion isn’t the next planned model after all—or that another, perhaps less advanced, model could arrive before the year concludes. For now, it seems that fans of the company and its models may want to temper their expectations.
Featured Image courtesy of Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
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