Also, it's not clear if the preference comes from the quality of the 'meat' of the answer, or the way it reports its thinking and the speed with which it respon

Also, it's not clear if the preference comes from the quality of the 'meat' of the answer, or the way it reports its thinking and the speed with which it responds. With o1, I get a marked feeling of impatience waiting for it to spit something out, and the 'progress of thought' is in faint grey text I can't read. With o3, the 'progress of thought' comes quickly, with more to read, and is more engaging even if I don't actually get anything more than entertainment value. I'm not going to say there's nothing substantive about o3 vs. o1, but I absolutely do not put it past Sam Altman to juice the stats every chance he gets.