AI 101

Reasoning model

Sketch: a driver plans the route on a map before starting; then the planner is slower and burns more fuel.

A reasoning model is trained to work through steps before giving its final answer, which helps on hard, multi-step problems.

Think of it like this: It is an engine that plans the route before it moves. That helps on tricky trips, but takes more time and burns more fuel (tokens).

Source:

https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/reasoning (checked Oct 15, 2026)
https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/extended-thinking (checked Oct 15, 2026)

RelatedChain of thoughtToken LLM Model router