ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said its latest and most powerful artificial intelligence model will be released to the public on Thursday, as the US government reportedly approved a broader launch.
In this photo illustration, the OpenAI logo is displayed on a laptop screen on May 20, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo: AFP)
The company's new GPT-5.6 offerings and other cutting-edge AI models, including Anthropic's Mythos series, have drawn concern over what researchers have described as an unprecedented ability to identify weaknesses in code that hackers can exploit.
That has raised national security fears, and OpenAI said in late June it had shared preview access to GPT-5.6 with a limited group of trusted US-based partners at Washington's request.
Large language models are the technology that underpins chatbots and many other AI tools, with their capacity to crunch through colossal amounts of digital data.
The GPT-5.6 series has three tiers: Sol, the company's new flagship model; Terra, a mid-range version for everyday work; and Luna, a fast, low-cost option.
"GPT-5.6 Sol, along with Terra and Luna, will launch publicly this Thursday. We're expanding preview access globally now," OpenAI said in an X post Tuesday, without giving further details.
US news outlet Axios reported, citing a source familiar with the situation, that the Trump administration had given the company the green light for a broad launch of GPT-5.6, following technical testing and meetings between the company and government officials.
In response to a query from AFP, a White House official insisted that the wider rollout of GPT-5.6 was not an approval, saying the company had submitted its models for scrutiny on a voluntary basis.
Frontier models
There have been deep divisions within the White House on how to handle the releases of these increasingly powerful models, with some officials insisting on a soft touch from government, while others have expressed concerns about their potential impact on security.
The delay in release echoes a similar situation at OpenAI's archrival Anthropic, the startup behind the Claude chatbot.
Last week, Anthropic said it would begin restoring access to its most powerful AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, after Washington lifted a restriction on where they could be released.
Before Mythos arrived, President Donald Trump's administration wanted fewer rules on AI companies, not more, hoping that would help the US beat China in the AI race.
The government is now drawing up criteria for which AI models would fall under new security restrictions, in accordance with an executive order from the White House.
OpenAI said in June that "we don't believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default" as it "keeps the best tools" from users, businesses and others who need them.
The company added that it was working with Washington "to develop the cyber Executive Order framework and a repeatable process for future model releases."
OpenAI has said Terra, once broadly available, will be priced at half the cost of its predecessor GPT-5.5, as the company seeks to lock in customers amid fierce competition from Anthropic and Google.
Both OpenAI and Anthropic have filed confidential IPO documents with US regulators and are targeting public listings at valuations approaching $1 trillion, raising the commercial stakes of the AI arms race between them.