AI Reading for Thursday March 20

o1-pro API, run big models on Nvidia's GTX Spark with a Blackwell and 128GB unified memory, Deep Research

Mar 20, 2025

OpenAI launches o1-pro reasoning model in API at twice the price of GPT-4.5, 10x the price of o1, 100x the price of o3-mini. - OpenAI

Simon Willison discusses.

Some of these models feel like market segmentation / price discrimination tests. I had o1 write a couple of daily reports but stopped when it was going to be a few $100/month.

I guess if you are a bulge bracket bank/consulting firm/hedge fund, a few thousand per month to improve analyst output and productivity could make sense, but how much better is it than o3-mini anyway?

Deep Research is a hit. - Wired

(contra the article it is available in ChatGPT Plus, like 10 requests per month vs. 120 for Pro)

Nvidia GTX Spark seems like a super cost-effective way to run big models locally. - Nvidia

Reserve yours for $4,000, or $3,000 for 1TB version from Asus. Should be able to connect 2 of them and run large models at Blackwell speed. A single one should run 70b parameter models fast, maybe 2 connected units get you to 405b-parameter model with some quantization.

You could also get a 256gb unified memory Apple Studio for $8k or so and 512GB for $10k or so. I would think 2 Blackwells may run significantly faster than llama.cpp on Metal, but look forward to a head-to-head comparson. Frontier LLMs on your home mini-PC(s). Crazy times.

Snapdragon also a very affordable option but I don’t think you can get higher than 64GB, or llama.cpp GPU/NPU support now. - YouTube

Meta is rolling out its AI chatbot in Europe - The Verge

Stratechery Interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman - Stratechery by Ben Thompson

AI is great for faking scientific data, in addition to detecting it and assisting scientists in understanding it. - The Conversation

Dad demands OpenAI delete ChatGPT’s false claim that he murdered his kids - Ars Technica

Tesla got problems - BBC

Musk is like, we're just a car company, but it's not priced like just a car company. A lot of competition, a lot of unfilled overhyped promises, no robotaxis after years of claims, and now it's gonna be robots, he claims. Really worth 2x Toyota?