OpenAI revolutionizes open source with gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b
OpenAI has announced the release of gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b, two open source language models that set a new standard for accessible and secure artificial intelligence. Both models are available under the Apache 2.0 license, offering maximum flexibility for both independent developers and large enterprises.
High performance and accessibility
The gpt-oss-120b model achieves results nearly equivalent to proprietary models like OpenAI o4-mini on major reasoning benchmarks, while running on a single 80 GB GPU. gpt-oss-20b delivers performance similar to o3-mini and can run on edge devices with just 16 GB of memory, making it ideal for local inference and for those who want to avoid expensive infrastructure.
Advanced capabilities and customization
- Excellent handling of tools such as web search and Python code execution
- Support for Chain of Thought (CoT) reasoning
- Structured outputs and full customization
- Intelligent adaptation of reasoning effort based on the task
Security and reliability at the core
Security is a top priority for OpenAI. The new models have undergone rigorous safety testing, including adversarial evaluation on gpt-oss-120b, to ensure high standards even in open source. The adopted methodologies have been validated by external experts, helping to set new safety standards for open-weight models.
"Tackling complex problems by breaking them down into subproblems, verifying answers, and self-correcting in real time—these are features that bring it significantly closer to human reasoning."
Sam Altman, CEO OpenAI
Collaborations and real-world applications
OpenAI works with partners like AI Sweden, Orange, and Snowflake to explore practical applications of open source models, from on-premise hosting to optimization on specialized datasets. Thanks to integration with the OpenAI API, developers can choose the best balance of performance, cost, and latency for their needs.
Conclusion
With gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b, OpenAI opens new possibilities for AI adoption, offering powerful, secure, and customizable tools to the entire tech community.