OpenAI has unveiled a new option called Flex processing, an API service designed to provide more affordable AI model usage in exchange for slower response times and occasional resource unavailability.
This new feature, available in beta for OpenAI's recently released o3 and o4-mini reasoning models, aims to cater to lower-priority and non-production tasks such as model evaluations, data enrichment, and asynchronous workloads.
Flex processing cuts API costs by half, making it an attractive option for businesses and developers seeking to reduce expenses on non-urgent AI tasks. For instance, the cost of using the o3 model through Flex is $5 per million input tokens (approximately 750,000 words) and $20 per million output tokens, compared to the standard price of $10 and $40, respectively. Meanwhile, for the o4-mini model, Flex pricing drops to $0.55 per million input tokens and $2.20 per million output tokens, down from $1.10 and $4.40.
This move comes as OpenAI faces increased competition from rival AI companies, such as Google, which recently launched its Gemini 2.5 Flash reasoning model. Gemini 2.5 Flash offers similar performance to DeepSeek's R1 at a lower input token cost, underscoring the growing trend of more affordable, budget-friendly AI options.
Additionally, OpenAI announced that developers in usage tiers 1-3 will need to undergo a new ID verification process to access the o3 model. This verification is part of OpenAI's efforts to ensure that its services are not misused by bad actors, as it seeks to protect its usage policies.
With the introduction of Flex processing, OpenAI is positioning itself to remain competitive in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, offering cost-effective solutions for developers working with non-critical tasks while maintaining the integrity of its services.
U.S. President Donald Trump has appointed Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to lead the administration’s latest effort to shape p...
Right-wing Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro will face leftist Presi...
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday calle...
The co-pilot of Israel bound flydubai flight attempted to carry out a “terrorist attack” with an axe during the flight, the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general said on Saturday.
Hammam al-Hammami, the Flydubai co-pilot accused of stabbing the captain of an Israel-bound flight on Wednesday in a suspected terrorist attack, was banned from flying by Oman over concerns about his radical views, U.S. media reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Iran's Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad has resigned, with Hamid Bovard, chief executive of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), appointed as acting oil minister, according to Iranian state media.
Right-wing Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro will face leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a runoff of the presidential election later this month, after he exceeded expectations in Sunday's first-round vote with a slight lead over the incumbent.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States meets seven conditions agreed under a June memorandum, as President Donald Trump signals he may soon decide whether to resume military operations against Tehran.
A four-person crew aboard SpaceX's Crew-13 mission, consisting of two U.S. astronauts, a Canadian astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut, arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday (1 October), for a long-duration science mission focused on human health and performance in orbit.
The European Space Agency (ESA), Airbus and European partners have put a six-wheeled Mars rover prototype through its paces in Spain’s Tabernas desert, simulating conditions expected on a future mission to the Red Planet.
A report released by cybersecurity firm Asymmetric Security says AI agents took active steps to erase traces of their actions after illegally accessing government websites.
Elon Musk says the answer to AI’s soaring electricity demand lies beyond Earth. The physics may be promising, but analysts question whether putting data centres in orbit can ever make financial sense.
OpenAI has cancelled plans to release GPT-6.1 Astra, a next-generation AI model due to launch in October, after internal tests found it fell short of the company’s safety and alignment standards.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment