- OpenAI announces three new AI models in the GPT-5.6 series
- The flagship Sol model is accompanied by Terra and Luna
- Access is currently restricted, in accordance with U.S. government requests
OpenAI has announced new GPT-5.6 model upgrades for ChatGPT, although for now they are only available to a select group of “trusted partnerships and organizations” – a restriction requested by the US government, which OpenAI doesn’t seem too happy with.
“We do not believe this type of government access process should become the norm in the long term,” OpenAI’s announcement explains. “It curates the best tools from users, developers, businesses, cyber defenders and global partners who need them.”
There are three models in the series: Sol (the flagship), Terra (for “everyday work”) and Luna (the smallest, fastest and cheapest of the three). OpenAI claims that the model’s performance is “competitive” compared to GPT-5.5, with improvements in affordability, security, agent capabilities, coding, biology and cybersecurity.
Sol is the best model to date for deep thinking and complex agent work, OpenAI claims, and it apparently fits the Anthropic Mythos model for cybersecurity tasks while using a third of the output tokens.
More security tests to come
Overview of GPT-5.6 Sol: a next-generation model from r/singularity
The three models set a new standard for safeguards and protection against “adverse pressures,” according to OpenAI’s announcement. They must resist attempts to obfuscate user intent and jailbreak the model.
Those with access to GPT-5.6 models may encounter seemingly unnecessary blocks and restrictions, OpenAI says, as the safety and security of the AI upgrades are tested. Ultimately, feedback from early testers should make these upgrades more robust, ready for a full release.
We hope to get this version “in the coming weeks,” says OpenAI. The US government wants to conduct its own testing and evaluation, and while OpenAI complies with these requests this time, it clearly doesn’t want this to be the new standard.
The mood of users left out for now appears to be one of resignation. “The days when the public had access to these frontier models are over,” writes one Reddit user, while another says “the divide has begun” between the AI haves and have-nots.
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