Online chatbots like ChatGPT from OpenAI and Gemini from Google sometimes struggle with simple math problems. The computer code they generate is often buggy and incomplete. From time to time, they even make stuff up.

On Thursday, OpenAI unveiled a new version of ChatGPT that could alleviate these flaws. The company said the chatbot, underpinned by new artificial intelligence technology called OpenAI o1, could "reason” through tasks involving math, coding and science.

"With previous models like ChatGPT, you ask them a question and they immediately start responding,” said Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI’s chief scientist. "This model can take its time. It can think through the problem — in English — and try to break it down and look for angles in an effort to provide the best answer.”