Practical Implications of OpenAI O1 Updates for Non-Technical Users

OpenAI’s o1, o1 pro, and Sora, write a targeted cover letter with ChatGPT, a tool to automate your LinkedIn growth, and more.

Welcome to Stay Ahead #54 from FlexOS!

Every Wednesday, we share the latest tools and tips to help you work smarter, not harder.

In this week’s edition:

1. News of the Week‍
   1. Practical implications from OpenAI’s updates for non-technical users.
   2. OpenAI’s Sora is officially launched. ‍
2. Prompts and Tutorials: Write a targeted cover letter in 5 steps
3. Productivity Tools: Apps and tools to boost your productivity.‍
4. Must-read News: Will people really pay $200 a month for OpenAI’s new chatbot?

Let’s dive in!

The bad news of the week: o1-preview has been revoked

There were two big news on OpenAI last week: (1) It has released the full o1 model to replace the o1-preview mode for paid users, and (2) it has launched the ChatGPT Pro tier at $200/month with access to all the current models and o1 pro mode. 

Based on OpenAI’s o1 System Card report, the official model is better than the o1-preview in the following areas:

• Multimodal reasoning: Now o1 can read and reasoning about image uploads, a capability absent in o1-preview
• Multilingual performance: o1 has the highest multilingual capabilities across existing OpenAI’s models
• Faster response time: o1 is said to give a more concise answer and with a shorter thinking time depending on the complexity of the prompt

However, based on the same report, o1 falls short of either o1-preview or ChatGPT-4o in these areas:

• Political persuasion: ChatGPT-4o outperforms both o1-preview and o1 
• OpenAI RE Interviews Multiple-Choice: o1 has a lower pass rate than o1-preview
• SWE-bench Verified (the ability to solve real-world software issues): o1-preview performs better before and after mitigation than o1 pre-mitigation
• The majority of Agentic Tasks: Except for OpenAI API proxy and sample from Mistral 7B locally, o1 performs worse than either o1-preview or 4o in the remaining tasks
• MLE-bench (Machine Learning Evaluation Benchmark): o1-preview has a 10% higher success rate than o1 (both pre and post-mitigation) when considering the top 10 predictions

For non-technical users, here are the implications:

• If you are using ChatGPT for your day-to-day tasks and not heavy into mathematic or coding problems, you will likely see no difference with this update, except for o1 responding significantly faster.
• For writing tasks, stick with ChatGPT-4o. It outperforms other models in crafting persuasive media messages. 
• For reading links and documents, ChatGPT-4o is still the most capable model.
• For coding tasks, although not as good as o1-preview, o1 is still better than ChatGPT-4o at coding and software engineering.
• In complex, multi-step scenarios, o1 demonstrates reasoning and problem-solving abilities on par with a human given two hours to work on the same challenge.

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Apollo also reports that o1 exhibits the most deceptive behaviors to users to achieve its scheme. Users should remain cautious, verify information independently, and avoid relying solely on its outputs for critical decisions.

There have been mixed reviews on the performance of o1 pro. It is worth noting that the price for ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Pro also includes the usage of newly-released Sora. 

If you are interested in digging deeper into ChatGPT Pro, these videos can be a great start:

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Sora stirs controversy on social media

After much anticipation, OpenAI has officially launched Sora, an AI model that transforms text prompts into videos with unmatched lifelikeness. Currently, Sora is accessible to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers in the United States and many other countries, with plans to expand its availability in the future.

Sora shows visible watermarks and metadata indicating AI creation to promote responsible use. However, Pro-tier users can download videos without the watermark. 

Generative AI like Sora remains controversial in the arts industry. While the tool is fun to explore and experiment with, users should stay mindful of fairness and copyright issues, particularly in education and when collaborating with artists.

Prompts and Tutorials

5 Steps to Write a Targeted Cover Letter with ChatGPT

Ready-to-use prompts to craft a targeted, professional cover letter that aligns your skills and experiences with your dream job's requirements: 

• Brief the process
• Identify the main requirements of the job
• Select the experience to highlight in the cover letter
• Write the cover letter
• Proofread and polish

Prompt ChatGPT using mathematical symbols and structures

Reuven Cohen uncovers a breakthrough in achieving ChatGPT's consistent performance by shifting from natural language to mathematical and symbolic prompting.

‍→ Read more news at the end.

Best Productivity Tools To Try Out This Week

Twos - A todo list that can suggest action items based on what you want to do.

Socialsonic - Supercharge your LinkedIn growth.

Synology - Create and sync notes across your devices.

creately - Infinite whiteboard to brainstorm, create charts, visualize ideas, and more.

More cool AI newsletters that I love:

​Morning Brew—Quick and insightful updates about the business world every day of the week from Wall St. to Silicon Valley.

​Innovating with AI—Courses, community, and coaching on AI.

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The best AI tools for Recruiting, Marketing, Accounting, and HR.

​10 Tools Anyone Can Use (Writing, Powerpoints)

​10 AI Productivity Tools (Meeting Notetaking, Writing, Brainstorming.)

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Create better prompts with our GPT Prompt Generator

Every week, we pick must-read articles about the future of work so you can stay ahead.

Will people really pay $200 a month for OpenAI’s new chatbot?‍

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o1 Pro Mode – ChatGPT Pro Full Analysis (plus o1 paper highlights)‍

An analysis on the improvement of o1 pro compared to the previous models.

Google’s latest feature drop includes new Gemini extensions and accessibility features​

Google's December 2024 feature drop introduces new Gemini AI extensions, including Spotify integration and enhanced accessibility features like Expressive Captions, aiming to improve user experience across Android and Pixel devices.

Strategy in an Era of Abundant Expertise‍

The article explores how businesses must adapt their strategies in an era where AI democratizes expertise and decision-making.

[Report] The World’s Most Popular AI Marketing Tools‍

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