Shipmas: the OpenAI advent calendar is now a reality

Shipmas is the gift from OpenAI, the company behind the development of ChatGPT, to its fans. A sort of advent calendar cut in half, which, like tech gifts to put under the tree, announces new tools and functions 'big and small' based on AI for twelve consecutive days (until 16 December). The term 'Shipmas' is a cross between the words 'ship' (release a product or feature) and 'Christmas', and was conceived by OpenAI to celebrate the launch of new products around the Christmas holidays. The initiative was announced by CEO Sam Altman himself at the New York Times Dealbook Summit.

Today, at 7pm Italian time, the first live streaming of the '12 Days of OpenAI' series was released. In casual, but not Christmas style (we expected at least a Christmas tree), Sam Altman himself, along with three other contributors, presented the official release of ChatGPT o1, which was initially released as a limited preview in September (codenamed 'Strawberry'). The model announced during the streaming of the first day of Shipmas, is a faster, more powerful and more accurate model, better in coding and mathematics. In addition, it can also provide 'reasoning' responses to images and be more concise, which should result in faster response times than o1-preview. The new model will be available to ChatGPT Plus and Team users from today, while Enterprise and Edu users will have access starting next week.

Altamn also announced ChatGPT Pro, a new $200 monthly subscription plan that includes unlimited access to OpenAI o1, GPT-4o and Advanced Voice mode. It also includes a version of o1, exclusive to Pro users, that uses more processing to provide the best possible response to the most difficult problems (called o1 pro mode). The company will continue to offer a Plus level for $20 per month that includes early access to new features, access to all company models (except the most powerful o1 version) and more.

A 'bang' start, prelude to other important announcements. Among the most credited hypotheses is the official launch of Sora, OpenAI's video generator, which has already made headlines for its potential and has so far been tested by a select group of artists, who have contributed to its development. The expectation is fuelled by the statement of Mira Murati, former CTO of OpenAI, who announced the arrival of Sora by the end of the year during an interview with the Wall Street Journal.