🎄 OpenAI’s 12 Days of Shipmas: A Tech Carnival in December 🎁
The battle for the default starting point of the Internet
In today’s Monday special, I’d like to wrap up all the announcements from OpenAI during their ‘12 days of Shipmas’ campaign — let’s get into it.
OpenAI didn’t just deck the halls — they rewired them. From December 5th to the 20th, their 12 Days of Shipmas campaign unwrapped an advent calendar of cutting-edge AI tools, integrations, and promises for the future.
Here’s what made each day feel like a present and what it means for all of us.
⏳️ The deets in 30 seconds:
Day 1 — ChatGPT Pro: A $200/month premium plan offering unlimited access to top-tier models like o1 reasoning and Advanced Voice Mode, built for researchers and power users.
Day 2 — Reinforcement Fine-Tuning Research: Developers got a boost with tools for domain-specific expert models, tailored to industries with limited datasets.
Day 3 — Sora, Text-to-Video AI: Unveiled a model to create 1-minute videos from text or images, complete with storyboard precision for detailed animations.
Day 4 — Canvas: Introduced an integrated collaboration tool for writing and coding, offering real-time teamwork directly in ChatGPT.
Day 5 — Apple Intelligence Integration: ChatGPT upgraded Siri, turning it into a smarter assistant capable of handling complex, context-aware queries.
Day 6 — Advanced Voice with Santa Mode: OpenAI added video capabilities and a festive twist, making voice interactions more engaging for the holidays.
Day 7 — Projects in ChatGPT: A workspace for organizing documents, images, and text, perfect for individuals juggling multiple tasks.
Day 8 — ChatGPT Search: Positioned as a Google competitor, offering smarter, AI-driven search with streamlined, relevant results.
Day 9 — o1 Tools for Developers: Released tools to access o1 models, empowering developers to build AI solutions for math, coding, and scientific inquiries.
Day 10–1–800-CHATGPT: Made ChatGPT accessible via phone, ensuring users without internet access could still interact with the AI.
Day 11 — Desktop App Integration: Enabled seamless use of ChatGPT with desktop applications, enhancing productivity across workflows.
Day 12 — o3 Model Previews: Teased next-gen AI models for 2025 to be launched by the end of January — o3 for advanced tasks and o3-mini for faster, budget-friendly applications.
Importantly, the o3 model set a new benchmark on what is known as The Abstract and Reasoning Corpus for Artificial General Intelligence (ARC-AGI). ARC-AGI is a benchmark designed to measure the intelligence of AI systems in a way that aligns more closely with human intelligence.
The model solved the puzzle below
Source: OpenAI, ARC Prize Foundation
The o3 model scored a new state-of-the-art score for the ARC-AGI benchmark at 75.7% with low computational resources and 87.5% with high computational resources.
Human performance is comparable at 85% performance, so for o3 to achieve more than that is an astounding result, with the promise of only getting better.
Source: OpenAI, ARC Prize Foundation.
💡 How it impacts you:
OpenAI didn’t just deliver gifts; it redefined the AI landscape in 12 moves. From accessibility to advanced reasoning, these updates signal a future where AI is woven into everyday life and work.
- Content creators: Tools like Sora enable faster, cheaper, high-quality video production for marketing and education.
- Everyday users: ChatGPT-Siri, ChatGPT on WhatsApp, and 1–800-CHATGPT (US only) expand conversational AI access across devices and without Wi-Fi respectively.
- Power users (developers, researchers, PHDs): o1 and, now o3 models sharpen AI’s reasoning and precision for healthcare, finance, and research.
- Teams: Canvas boosts real-time collaboration on coding and writing, enhancing productivity.
- Search: ChatGPT Search threatens Google with integrated, intelligent querying for faster answers.
🔮 Industry prediction:
AI assistants are about to steal Google’s homework — smarter search and device integration are reshaping how we access knowledge.
Who’s Moving:
- 🏃♀️ Leading: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind.
- 🚶♂️ Following: Meta, Amazon.
- ⌛ Waiting: IBM Watson, Apple, startups in niche AI tools.
What’s Next:
- Now: Integrations and fine-tuning tools spread.
- 6 Months: o3 models redefine affordable AI.
- 1 Year: AI-driven search and assistants challenge traditional workflows.
🌎️ The big picture:
This wasn’t just a holiday marketing stunt — it’s OpenAI flexing its tech dominance. By integrating AI into everyday tools and pushing its models further, the company is setting the stage for 2025 as the year AI stops being a tool and becomes a partner.
⚡ The bottom line:
OpenAI’s 12 Days of Shipmas was like the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 1 — strategic reveals, blockbuster tools, and a finale hinting at game-changing sequels.
🧠 Closing thought:
With all these updates, one thing is clear from OpenAI, they’re battling to become the default starting point of the Internet! 🌐
