AI
OpenAI launches GPT-5.6 models after Trump administration review
Three new models—Sol, Terra, and Luna—arrive in limited preview, with government oversight during the rollout period.
The Verge
OpenAI has released GPT-5.6, a new model suite arriving in limited preview just hours after the Trump administration requested a staggered rollout. The three-tier lineup includes Sol (flagship), Terra (medium-tier for high-volume work), and Luna (fast and affordable), all optimized for coding, cybersecurity, biology, and extended agentic tasks.
Pricing and Features#
Sol carries a per-million-token price of $5 input / $30 output—roughly half the cost of Anthropic's competing Claude model. Terra runs at half Sol's price, with Luna costing less than half of Terra's.
The flagship Sol model also debuts two additional modes: a "max" mode for deeper reasoning and an "ultra" mode for sub-agent orchestration, suggesting influence from Peter Steinberger, the OpenClaw creator now at OpenAI.
Safety and Government Oversight#
The announcement emphasizes security measures amid heightened scrutiny in Washington. OpenAI says Sol "is trained to refuse prohibited cyber assistance, including when users attempt to disguise their intent or jailbreak the model," and that it "is better at helping people find and fix vulnerabilities than reliably carrying out end-to-end attacks."
The company invested approximately 700,000 A100e GPU hours in automated red-teaming and engaged third-party testers, who will continue evaluation for two weeks. OpenAI acknowledges that safeguards "may occasionally intervene on legitimate work, particularly in dual-use areas where defensive and offensive activity can initially look similar."
During the preview, the Trump administration will approve customers on a case-by-case basis. OpenAI stated it cooperates with government but hopes this process won't become standard practice, writing: "We don't believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default. It keeps the best tools from users, developers, enterprises, cyber defenders, and global partners who need them."
The company expects general availability within weeks as it works with the administration on a cyber executive order framework.
