5 o3-mini Prompts to Try Out Today

OpenAI’s o3- mini is not even a week old and it’s already a favorite amongst ChatGPT users. This new model is said to be better, faster, and smarter compared to its predecessor, the o1-mini. As our LLMs continue to improve, we need to up our prompting game to get their best outputs.  In this blog, we will explore 5 smart ways to prompt o3-mini to perform daily tasks such as preparing for an interview, researching content, debugging code, and more. Let’s get started.

What are Prompts?

Prompts are the instructions you give a Large Language Model (LLM) like o3-mini, which guide the model’s output. Think of them as the questions you ask or the tasks you assign. The clearer and more specific your prompt is, the better the results you’ll receive. A well-crafted prompt can make all the difference in how effectively you can leverage the power of LLMs.

What is o3-mini?

The o3-mini is a streamlined version of OpenAI’s most advanced AI model, o3, which focuses on efficiency and speed. It offers advanced reasoning capabilities, enabling it to break down complex problems and provide effective solutions. The model is currently available to all users of ChatGPT, although free-tier users have access with certain limitations. Meanwhile, ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro users can use o3-mini for up to 150 messages per day.

To access the o3-mini in the free ChatGPT plan, click on the “reason” button in your prompt box.

Currently, you cannot attach images or files to your input while working with the o3-mini model, but it can search the web.

Learn More: OpenAI o3-mini: Performance, How to Access, and More

5 Useful o3-mini Prompts

In this blog, we will look at 5 different o3-mini prompts that are set to help you:

• Solve complex problems
• Write and debug code
• Research topics
• Personalise learning
• Optimize processes

I’ll write a prompt for each of these applications which you can customize based on your requirements and use to enhance your daily productivity. I’ll then try out an example and show you how it works. Let’s start with the first prompt:

1. Problem-Solving

Businesses, organizations, and start-ups often run into issues that are complex and may have multi-pronged effects. These issues can be related to supply chain, operations, tech support, etc. In such a scenario when critical problem-solving support is required, they can use the following template on o3-mini for assistance.

Prompt Template: “Analyze the following business case: [Detailed description of the case, including context, stakeholders, challenges, and available data].
Propose 3 distinct solutions, outlining the pros and cons of each, considering factors like cost, implementation time, resource availability, and potential impact on revenue.  Prioritize solutions based on [specific criteria, e.g., ROI, risk mitigation].”

Real-life Use Case:

Suppose a manufacturing company is experiencing a rise in its operational costs due to issues in its supply chain. Here’s how the prompt can be customized and put into o3-mini to solve the problem.

Prompt:

Result:

Review:

o3-mini quickly analyzes all the points mentioned in the prompt. It provides 3 detailed solutions along with a list of pros and cons for each. It also provides solutions that emphasize cost reduction while addressing their impact on relationships with the current suppliers. Similarly, you can use this prompt and customize it to get solutions from o3-mini regarding any business issues.

Also Read: Is Google Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental Better Than OpenAI o3-mini?

2. Code Generation & Debugging

For engineers around the world, the main chunk of their daily tasks involves coding. This can be code generation, code optimization, debugging, etc. To help them get a head start with any of their coding tasks, they can use the following prompt template in full or in parts.

Prompt Template: “Write a [python/java/javascript] function to [specific task, e.g., parse a CSV file and extract specific data, then calculate the average of a particular column].
The function should handle potential errors like missing files or incorrect data formats.  Debug the following code snippet: [insert code].
Explain the errors, provide the corrected code, and include comments explaining the changes you made.  The code should be efficient and well-documented.”

Real-life Use Case:

Let’s say I have a list of email ids and I need to validate them. Using o3-mini, I can create a Python function to validate email addresses according to a given set of directions.

Prompt:

Result:

Review:

Although the model takes some time to respond to this prompt, it gives a simple and concise code for email ID validation. It even showcases its debugging capabilities with a sample code. All the code blocks involved in o3-mini’s solution were followed with a proper explanation of the code. This made the code easier to understand and execute. The code generated would easily identify the correct and incorrect email IDs.

Also Read: Can OpenAI’s o3-mini Beat Claude Sonnet 3.5 in Coding?

3. Research

A sub-task that supports several of our main tasks is research. Every professional, in some capacity, needs to do research based on their roles. In fact, research is an important aspect of students and academicians too. To research any recent topic you can use the following prompt template on o3-mini:

Prompt Template: “Focus on recent studies and reports (published in the last [time period]). Summarize the key findings, covering [list key aspects to cover].
Discuss [list discussion points]. Identify any conflicting findings and potential areas for future research. Since you cannot directly access research papers, describe the kinds of studies that would be relevant and the types of data that would be collected.
Mention reputable organizations and think tanks that are researching this topic.”

Real-life Use Case:

Let’s see how well o3-mini can research on the impact of remote work on employee work productivity.

Prompt:

Result:

Review:

Like an agent, o3-mini executes each task listed in the prompt and reports it too. While its output is good, a few things that were lacking in it were the details regarding various research methodologies. The LLM provided two points under each section to ensure uniformity but overall the points felt too low to be useful for a research report.

Also Read: OpenAI vs Google: Who Does Deep Research Better?

4. Personalized Learning & Skill Development

Learning is a part of growing and in the corporate world, it is essential to keep up with all the latest changes. Even with a lot of courses and content all over the internet, it can be hard to find a learning program designed especially for you. To help you create a personalized learning path that caters to your learning goal, you can use the following prompt template:

Prompt Template: “Create a [time period, e.g., 30-day, 60-day] learning plan to become a [skill/profession, e.g., front-end web developer, data scientist, UX designer], targeting a beginner with [describe background knowledge]. The plan should include daily learning goals, relevant resources (articles, videos, tutorials, documentation, interactive coding exercises – describe the types of resources that would be helpful and where they can typically be found online), practical exercises (coding challenges, creating different types of [describe practical tasks], and self-assessment methods (quizzes, mini-projects, creating a portfolio – describe the kinds of projects that would be appropriate). Focus on [list key areas of focus]. Include links to reputable online learning platforms and communities.”

Real-life Use Case:

Let’s see if o3-mini can create a 60-day learning plan for me to become proficient in Python programming for data analysis.

Prompt:

Result:

Review:

For this task, o3-mini quickly comes up with a simple yet detailed breakdown of the 60-day plan. Breaking down the entire 2-month plan into bi-weekly plans. Detailing the topics to be covered each week along with useful learning resources. It also briefly mentions the kind of assignments that should be done during the mentioned period. Finally, it provides resources of useful online courses from various platforms that would be relevant to the given topic.

5. Process Automation & Optimization

The word that is literally at the tip of the tongue of all the decision-makers is Automation. It’s a trend, it’s essential, and it’s efficient. That is why companies around the world are increasingly automating projects to help teams across departments leverage their skills more efficiently. The following prompt template can help you design the automation path for your team:

Prompt Template: “Describe a typical [type of process, e.g., social media marketing process, customer onboarding process, content creation workflow], including all steps involved, from [starting point] to [end point]. Identify areas where automation can be applied to streamline this process.
Discuss tools and technologies that can be used for [process type] automation.
Describe a hypothetical scenario where a [relevant team or individual] could benefit from automation. Research and describe best practices for automating [type of process].”

Real-life Use Case:

Imagine you run a small bakery and want to do some marketing for it, with limited resources. You can ask o3-mini for social media marketing strategies and even ways to automate the content scheduling process.

Prompt:

Result:

Review:

The output generated by the LLM is quite useful and breaks down the entire process of content scheduling effectively. It lists down creative video ideas and also discusses the different content creation, scheduling, and content promotion activities for the videos. Finally with its lists of automation tools and the benefits of automation in the bakery business o3-mini provides end-to-end answers to all the questions listed in the prompt. While the answer could have been enhanced with a few reference YouTube videos, it still is a great response!

Why Choose o3-mini?

There are multiple LLMs presently that offer reasoning capabilities;, some of them like DeepSeek-R1, and Qwen2.5-Max, are open-source and free to use. Despite this,  we are using o3-mini for these tasks because its quick responses and in-depth explanations make it particularly suitable for real-time applications, such as business case analysis and content creation, where speed is as crucial as accuracy.

Conclusion

OpenAI’s o3-mini brings powerful reasoning capabilities in a compact model making it an invaluable tool for a variety of tasks, from problem-solving and code generation to personalized learning and process optimization. By leveraging o3-mini’s abilities, users can streamline complex workflows, enhance productivity, and gain deeper insights into various domains.

With its robust performance, o3-mini exceeds expectations, empowering users to achieve more in less time. This latest model by OpenAI is set to establish itself as one of the most versatile models in the history of LLMs.

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Anu Madan

Anu Madan has 5+ years of experience in content creation and management. Having worked as a content creator, reviewer, and manager, she has created several courses and blogs. Currently, she working on creating and strategizing the content curation and design around Generative AI and other upcoming technology.