ChatGPT operates not on a singular AI model, but rather offers a variety of models to enhance its chatbot capabilities. With additional options available through subscription, there are several pathways to customize your experience. While users can explore these models independently, OpenAI provides recommendations that can be somewhat obscured.

According to a recent discovery by Bleeping Computer, OpenAI has released guidance on when to utilize each model effectively. This guidance, embedded in a support document for the ChatGPT Enterprise service, offers insights that extend beyond business scenarios and can be beneficial for all users.

Optimal Use for GPT-4o

OpenAI suggests leveraging GPT-4o for commonplace activities. This encompasses brainstorming ideas, summarizing written content, drafting emails, and crafting creative pieces—essentially, tasks where users anticipate the chatbot to excel.

Examples of prompts that OpenAI recommends include distilling meeting notes into “key action items,” composing an email for project initiation, proofreading a document, or creating a launch strategy in “real time.” For the latter, the model can be bolstered by uploading sketches or screenshots to enhance its output.

Optimal Use for GPT-4.5

Earlier this year, OpenAI introduced GPT-4.5 in a limited preview, accessible through a paid ChatGPT subscription. This model, which is somewhat less visible in the “More models” dropdown, is recommended for tasks that demand “emotional intelligence, effective communication, creativity, and an intuitive collaborative approach to brainstorming.”

Although its recommendations overlap with those for GPT-4o in terms of creativity, OpenAI provides specific sample prompts indicative of its intentions. For instance, it suggests using GPT-4.5 to craft a compelling LinkedIn post about AI trends or to generate product descriptions for new launches, emphasizing an “empathetic tone” in customer communications.

This model appears targeted at enhancing most of your writing endeavors, raising discussions about substituting genuine human interactions with AI assistance. However, many prefer to maintain a personal touch in their written communication.

Utilizing ChatGPT’s Reasoning Models

The reasoning models diverge from traditional generative AI approaches, focusing instead on dissecting problems step-by-step to achieve a more comprehensive and insightful output.

The flagship reasoning model, o3, is advocated for intricate or tiered tasks, such as strategic planning, thorough analyses, extensive coding, advanced mathematical challenges, scientific exploration, and visual reasoning. Example prompts for o3 include developing a market expansion risk analysis, creating a data-driven business strategy, or conducting an intensive spreadsheet analysis while projecting for the next quarter.

Although personal experiences with o3 may vary, it has gained popularity, especially in viral applications like geoguessing. Surprisingly, results are often comparable even when using the more general GPT-4o.

Additionally, OpenAI offers the more specialized models o4-mini and o4-mini-high, each targeting specific technical tasks. o4-mini is designed for rapid technical processes, including extracting data points from CSV files, summarizing scientific studies, or resolving Python issues.

In contrast, o4-mini-high focuses on more intricate technical challenges, such as solving advanced mathematical problems while elaborating on the process or simplifying complex scientific theories into layman’s terms.

Access to o4-mini is available to all users, while o4-mini-high and o3 are exclusive to paid subscribers, with free users retaining limited access to o4-mini.

Despite the information presented, finding consistent applications for these models remains challenging for some users. For those not engaged in coding or lacking interest in AI-generated art, the pivot to AI for text generation may not feel necessary or appealing, as many still prefer traditional writing methods. For now, engaging with ChatGPT primarily serves to experiment with newly released features.

Perhaps in the future, a generative AI tool will emerge that proves genuinely beneficial on a regular basis, but such developments have yet to materialize.