OpenAI is releasing a new artificial intelligence model known internally as “Strawberry” that can perform some human-like reasoning tasks, as it looks to stay at the top of a crowded market of rivals.

The new model, called o1, is designed to spend more time computing the answer before responding to user queries, the company said in a blog post Thursday. With the model, OpenAI’s tools should be able to solve multi-step problems, including complicated math and coding questions.

“As an early model, it doesn’t yet have many of the features that make ChatGPT useful, like browsing the web for information and uploading files and images,” the company said.

“But for complex reasoning tasks this is a significant advancement and represents a new level of AI capability. Given this, we are resetting the counter back to 1 and naming this series OpenAI o1.”

A preview version of the model will be available through OpenAI’s popular chatbot, ChatGPT, to paid Plus and Team users on Thursday.

Bloomberg previously reported the company could release the new model as soon as this week.

The model’s release comes as San Francisco-based OpenAI is looking to raise billions in funding and faces heightened competition in the race to develop ever more sophisticated artificial intelligence systems.

OpenAI isn’t the only company working on such capabilities; competitors Anthropic and Google have also touted “reasoning” skills with their advanced AI models.

In its blog post, OpenAI gave examples of the AI model’s responses to questions on topics including coding, English, and math, and asked it to solve a simple crossword puzzle.

In a series of posts on X, Noam Brown, a research scientist at OpenAI, said the company is releasing the model in preview now in part to get a sense for how people use it, and where it needs to be improved.

HabariPay, the fintech subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), has reported a 30.7 percent rise in profit in the first half of 2024.

Analysis of the tier-one bank’s recent financial statement showed that the fintech recorded a profit after tax of N1.7 billion in H1, compared to N1.3 billion in the same period of 2023.

According to the financial statement, HabariPay’s growth showed promising adoption of the bank’s digital payments business as it looks to bolster its hold on the fintech sector.

“Through our Habari platform, our customers can shop for diverse products online, pay bills, watch videos, and listen to music. We continue to improve the platform to meet and support everyone’s lifestyle,” it said.

A further breakdown of the report revealed that the fintech company’s operating income in the first six months increased by 22.7 percent, N2.7 billion in H1, from N2.2 billion in the same period of last year. Its operating expenses rose to N703 million from N688 million.

The company generated N2.06 billion from its core business activities, an 815.6 percent rise from N225 million reported in 2023.

When Guaranty Trust Bank transitioned from its standalone commercial banking structure into a holding company, HabariPay became a standalone business offering payments, a marketplace, and small business services.

HabariPay’s flagship product, Squad, combines a payment gateway and e-commerce platform with a Point-of-Sale business.

The statement added, “In line with its mission of empowering businesses and young innovators across Africa, HabariPay’s Squad launched its first-ever coding sprint, Take on Squad Hackathon 1.0. The two-day social coding event was held at the state-of-the-art GTCO Training Complex, Tayo’s Plaza, Abeokuta, Ogun State.”

Opay will begin charging customers a N50 levy on electronic transfers of N10,000 and above paid into their accounts from September 9, 2024.

The fintech revealed this in a message to customers titled ‘FGN Electronic Money Transfer levy’, which started making rounds on Saturday.

The company said, “Please be informed that starting September 9th 2024, a one-time fee of N50 will be applied to electronic transfers of N10,000 and above paid into your personal or business account, in compliance with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) regulations.

The fintech noted that it would not benefit from this charge as it is directly paid to the Federal Government. The fintech already charges customers N10 after their third transfer to other banks in a day.

EMTL, introduced in the Finance Act 2020, was an amendment to the Stamp Duty Act to tap into the growth of electronic transfers. It is a one-off charge of N50 on electronic receipt or transfer of money deposited in any deposit bank or financial institution on any type of account for sums of N10,000 and above.

In 2023, the Federal government made N180.31 billion from EMTL, a 29.45 percent increase from its N136.35 billion target. Revenue from EMTL is shared among the three tiers of government. The growth in EMTL revenue is expected to be fuelled by further increases in cashless transactions in the country, especially with the Central Bank of Nigeria anticipating a slowdown in cash usage by 2025.

By the end of 2023, cashless transactions surged to over N600 trillion from N395.38 trillion in 2022 as more Nigerians embraced digital payment channels. This trend continued in 2024, with transactions growing by 88.09 percent to N237 trillion in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024.

However, revenues from EMTL have not reflected this growth. According to experts’ micro transactions, defined as transfers below N10,000, and their platforms, such as Opay and Palmpay, are powering Nigeria’s electronic payment (e-payment) boom.

Opay, which has over 30 million customers, was one of the winners of the 2023 Central Bank of Nigeria’s botched naira redesign and cashless policy when it demonstrated resilience during the naira cash shortage that exposed vulnerabilities in many traditional banking platforms.

“Payment methods have become easier, faster, and better, and people are using them for everyday things,” said Adedeji Olowe, founder of Lendsqr.