---
type: entity
subtype: organization
title: "OpenAI"
description: "Maker of GPT-4o mini (affordable-but-strong chat model) and text-embedding-3-small (recommended RAG embedding model)."
resource: "https://openai.com"
tags: [ai-lab, gpt, embeddings, codex, agents-sdk]
videos: [google-anthropic-and-openais-guides-to-ai-agents-all-in-18-minutes, introducing-rag-20-agentic-rag-knowledge-graphs-free-template, 10-n8n-tips-in-10-minutes-to-10x-your-ai-automations, the-easiest-possible-strategy-for-accurate-rag-step-by-step-guide, the-future-of-rag-is-agentic-learn-this-strategy-now, openais-o1-is-barely-usable-but-i-fixed-it, lets-settle-the-o3-mini-vs-r1-debate-for-coding-once-and-for-all, how-to-dominate-with-ai-in-2025, openais-swarm-a-game-changer-for-ai-agents, openais-brand-new-agents-sdk-crash-course, ollama-openais-swarm-easily-run-ai-agents-locally, the-subagent-era-is-officially-here-learn-this-now, claude-code-web-just-dropped-but-i-already-built-something-better-with-codex, github-is-the-future-of-ai-coding-heres-why, claude-sonnet-45-the-new-coding-king-sonnet-45-vs-gpt-5-codex, is-software-engineering-finally-dead, ai-exploded-in-2025-heres-everything-that-happened, the-way-we-use-ai-will-completely-change-in-2026-hot-takes, turn-any-file-into-llm-knowledge-in-seconds, the-official-archon-guide-10x-your-ai-coding-workflow, introducing-archon-the-revolutionary-operating-system-for-ai-coding, chatgpt-users-be-aware-of-this-major-weakness, chatgpt-is-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving-introducing-auto-gpt, the-only-ai-developer-roadmap-you-need-in-2024]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# OpenAI

OpenAI is the default LLM and embeddings provider running under most of Cole's builds, and one of the three labs whose agent guides he treats as canon. Its own guide gives the tightest definition he cites, "Agents are systems that independently accomplish tasks on your behalf" ([0:02:33]), and he singles it out for one topic in particular: "the OpenAI guide specifically covers guardrails the best in my opinion" ([0:12:11]), tying it to [Guardrails](../../concepts/guardrails.md). In practice, when Cole needs a cheap, fast, reliable model he reaches here: "I would choose open Ai and go with GPT-4o mini and then for the embedding model I would highly recommend going with text embedding three small" ([0:02:18]), the pairing that shows up across his [RAG](../../concepts/rag.md), [Agentic RAG](../../concepts/agentic-rag.md), and [Memory Systems](../../concepts/memory-systems.md) tutorials, and the reason [Vector Embeddings](../../concepts/vector-embeddings.md) in this catalog usually mean text-embedding-3-small.

OpenAI also drives Cole's coverage of frontier capabilities. On [Reasoning Models](../../concepts/reasoning-models.md) it set the bar with o1 and o3, "open AI recently released the latest and greatest large language model o1 and this thing is absolutely crushing benchmarks" ([0:00:00]), later benchmarked against DeepSeek R1. On agents, its open-source experiments seeded whole tutorials: "OpenAI recently revealed their latest and greatest AI tool swarm" ([0:00:00]), which matured into "OpenAI released swarm an open-Source AI agent framework" and the Agents SDK. It pushed the [Subagents Pattern](../../concepts/subagents-pattern.md), "the message from OpenAI. They are putting a lot of effort into designing LLM that are specifically meant to be used for subagents" ([0:00:15]), and its Codex became a serious coding rival, "OpenAI has this Codex action that we can call upon" ([0:11:57]). Cole is not uncritical: he flags the training-cutoff weakness of GPT, watches OpenAI's scale ("valued at over $730 billion"), and offers a hot take that "you know who I don't think is going to come out on top with any kind of specialization is OpenAI" ([0:03:02]).

> **Contradiction:** OpenAI is simultaneously Cole's most-used, most-recommended default provider (GPT-4o mini + text-embedding-3-small across dozens of builds) and the lab he predicts is least likely to win a specialized niche as the market matures ([the-way-we-use-ai-will-completely-change-in-2026-hot-takes](../../sources/the-way-we-use-ai-will-completely-change-in-2026-hot-takes.md), 2026-01; vs. its default status across his RAG/agent tutorials).

## Realizes

- [Model Selection](../../concepts/model-selection.md) - Choosing the right LLM per task by trading off quality, speed, and cost, often routing easy requests to cheap models and hard ones to expensive models.
- [Reasoning Models](../../concepts/reasoning-models.md) - Models that produce explicit reasoning before answering, and when that extra thinking helps versus hurts.
- [Tool Use](../../concepts/tool-use.md) - Letting an LLM invoke external functions and APIs so it can take actions and fetch data beyond its parametric knowledge.
- [Subagents Pattern](../../concepts/subagents-pattern.md) - Delegating scoped tasks to isolated subagents to parallelize work and protect the main agent's context window.
- [Guardrails](../../concepts/guardrails.md) - Constraints and checks that keep agents from hallucinating, going off the rails, or emitting unsafe output.
- [RAG](../../concepts/rag.md) - Grounding an LLM's answers by retrieving relevant documents from an external knowledge base and injecting them into the prompt at query time.
- [Agentic RAG](../../concepts/agentic-rag.md) - Giving an agent retrieval as a tool so it decides when and how to search a knowledge base, picking strategies and issuing follow-up queries instead of a single static lookup.
- [Vector Embeddings](../../concepts/vector-embeddings.md) - Numeric representations of text that enable semantic similarity search, stored and managed in a vector database for retrieval.
- [Memory Systems](../../concepts/memory-systems.md) - Giving agents durable short- and long-term memory so conversations, user context, and facts persist across sessions and users.
- [Human in the Loop](../../concepts/human-in-the-loop.md) - Keeping a human as the approver and steerer of agentic work rather than fully automating, so AI augments engineers instead of replacing them.

## Contrasts with

- [Anthropic](./anthropic.md) - Maker of Claude and Claude Code, creator of MCP, and Cole's pick for the best coding LLM and the lab whose research most shapes his practice.
- [Google](./google.md) - Author of the A2UI generative-UI specification used in the demo.
- [DeepSeek](./deepseek.md) - Chinese startup whose R1 open-source model was tied to Nvidia's $600B one-day drop; later shipped DeepSeek 3.2.
- [Meta AI](./meta.md) - Cited as an example of a model trained with ~10x fewer parameters than GPT, pointing toward faster/cheaper training.
- [Groq](./groq.md) - A fast inference provider Cole recommends (with a Llama model) when you need speed over raw power.

## Sources

- [Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI's Guides to AI Agents ALL in 18 Minutes](../../sources/google-anthropic-and-openais-guides-to-ai-agents-all-in-18-minutes.md) - "[0:02:33] within our OpenAI guide, they have an even shorter definition. Agents are systems that independently accomplish tasks on your behalf."
- [10 n8n Tips in 10 Minutes to 10x Your AI Automations](../../sources/10-n8n-tips-in-10-minutes-to-10x-your-ai-automations.md) - "[0:02:18] I would choose open Ai and go with GPT-4o mini and then for the embedding model I would highly recommend going with text embedding three small."
- [The EASIEST Possible Strategy for Accurate RAG (Step by Step Guide)](../../sources/the-easiest-possible-strategy-for-accurate-rag-step-by-step-guide.md) - "[0:15:53] I'm just using the text embedding three small OpenAI embedding model. That's what creates all those vector representations."
- [OpenAI's o1 is Barely Usable, but I Fixed it...](../../sources/openais-o1-is-barely-usable-but-i-fixed-it.md) - "[0:00:00] open AI recently released the latest and greatest large language model o1 and this thing is absolutely crushing benchmarks."
- [OpenAI's Swarm - a GAME CHANGER for AI Agents](../../sources/openais-swarm-a-game-changer-for-ai-agents.md) - "[0:00:00] OpenAI recently revealed their latest and greatest AI tool swarm."
- [OpenAI's BRAND NEW Agents SDK (Crash Course)](../../sources/openais-brand-new-agents-sdk-crash-course.md) - "[0:00:00] quite a few months back open AI released swarm an open-Source AI agent framework."
- [The Subagent Era Is Officially Here - Learn this Now](../../sources/the-subagent-era-is-officially-here-learn-this-now.md) - "[0:00:15] the message from OpenAI. They are putting a lot of effort into designing LLM that are specifically meant to be used for subagents."
- [GitHub is the Future of AI Coding (Here's Why)](../../sources/github-is-the-future-of-ai-coding-heres-why.md) - "[0:11:57] OpenAI has this Codex action that we can call upon."
- [Claude Code Web JUST Dropped but I Already Built Something BETTER (with Codex!)](../../sources/claude-code-web-just-dropped-but-i-already-built-something-better-with-codex.md) - "[0:13:18] in this file you have a few different credentials that we need to authenticate with openai for using Codex."
- [Is Software Engineering Finally Dead?](../../sources/is-software-engineering-finally-dead.md) - "[0:05:05] OpenAI is valued at over $730 billion now. And by the way, Sam is in line for a 7% equity stake that is going to be worth over $10 billion."
- [AI Exploded in 2025 - Here's Everything That Happened](../../sources/ai-exploded-in-2025-heres-everything-that-happened.md) - "[0:10:41] Sam Alman said that in October, ChatGPT hit 800 million weekly active users."
- [The Way We Use AI Will Completely Change in 2026 (Hot Takes)](../../sources/the-way-we-use-ai-will-completely-change-in-2026-hot-takes.md) - "[0:03:02] you know who I don't think is going to come out on top with any kind of specialization is OpenAI. And this is probably the biggest hot take in this entire video."
- [Turn ANY File into LLM Knowledge in SECONDS](../../sources/turn-any-file-into-llm-knowledge-in-seconds.md) - "[0:08:34] I did add OpenAI Whisper, which is an open source tool. We're going to be using Whisper Turbo as our speech to text model completely locally."
- [ChatGPT Users BE AWARE of this Major Weakness](../../sources/chatgpt-users-be-aware-of-this-major-weakness.md) - "[0:00:16] the training cut off what it is why it's the biggest weakness for GPT and other AI models."
- [ChatGPT is the GIFT that keeps on GIVING - Introducing Auto-GPT](../../sources/chatgpt-is-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving-introducing-auto-gpt.md) - "[0:15:45] as openai themselves generate new models like gpt5 gpt6 and more competitors come onto the scene."
- [Introducing RAG 2.0: Agentic RAG + Knowledge Graphs (FREE Template)](../../sources/introducing-rag-20-agentic-rag-knowledge-graphs-free-template.md) - "[0:16:38] By default, we're going to be using OpenAI with GPT4.1 Mini."
- [The Future of RAG is Agentic - Learn this Strategy NOW](../../sources/the-future-of-rag-is-agentic-learn-this-strategy-now.md) - "[0:19:53] we're going to be using again the open AI client just using their text embedding 3 small model."
- [Let's Settle the o3-mini Vs. R1 Debate for Coding ONCE and for ALL](../../sources/lets-settle-the-o3-mini-vs-r1-debate-for-coding-once-and-for-all.md) - "[0:04:38] we're going to be using o3 mini directly through the openai API."
- [How to DOMINATE with AI in 2025](../../sources/how-to-dominate-with-ai-in-2025.md) - "[0:11:49] o3 by open AI is a really good example... and then we have o1 also from open AI."
- [Ollama + OpenAI's Swarm - EASILY Run AI Agents Locally](../../sources/ollama-openais-swarm-easily-run-ai-agents-locally.md) - "[0:00:00] OpenAI recently released an incredible new experimental tool called swarm."
- [Claude Sonnet 4.5 - The New Coding King? (Sonnet 4.5 vs. GPT 5 Codex)](../../sources/claude-sonnet-45-the-new-coding-king-sonnet-45-vs-gpt-5-codex.md) - "[0:00:19] it is apparently better than GPT Codex from OpenAI, which has been absolutely crushing it recently."
- [The OFFICIAL Archon Guide - 10x Your AI Coding Workflow](../../sources/the-official-archon-guide-10x-your-ai-coding-workflow.md) - "[0:09:15] you want to set up the credentials for the LLM providers that you want to use... I'll just start by using OpenAI right now."
- [Introducing Archon - The Revolutionary Operating System for AI Coding](../../sources/introducing-archon-the-revolutionary-operating-system-for-ai-coding.md) - "[0:03:14] also an OpenAI API key for your LLMs and embedding models. And then also we support Gemini and Ollama."
- [The ONLY AI Developer Roadmap You Need in 2024](../../sources/the-only-ai-developer-roadmap-you-need-in-2024.md) - "[0:07:00] make basic applications using the open AI or anthropic SDK in Python so open AI is GPT."
