OpenAI Launches GPT-5.6 — But Limits Access To ‘Trusted Partners’ At US Government’s Request

• OpenAI said GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna will be broadly available in the coming weeks following the restricted rollout phase.
• The company said it shared model capabilities with U.S. officials ahead of launch and is collaborating on a repeatable review process for future releases.
• The move follows similar restrictions on rival Anthropic and reflects growing government involvement in advanced AI model deployment.

OpenAI launched three new artificial intelligence models on Friday, while limiting early access to a small group of “trusted partners” in line with a request from the U.S. government. The company said the rollout restriction is temporary and that broader availability is expected in the coming weeks.

“We’re beginning a limited preview of the GPT‑5.6 series: Sol, our flagship model; Terra, a balanced model for everyday work; and Luna, a fast and affordable model. Terra has competitive performance to GPT‑5.5 while being 2x cheaper and Luna brings strong capability at our lowest cost,” the company said in a blog post.

OpenAI Limits Access To New Models

OpenAI said it is complying with the U.S. government’s request to initially limit access to the three models. The company did not disclose the names of partners who can use its new models.

It said in the blog post that it “believes in broad access” and is working “to make GPT‑5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna generally available in the coming weeks.” OpenAI added that it had previewed the models’ capabilities and shared its plans with the government ahead of Friday’s launch.

The company said it is working with the Trump administration to help establish a framework for assessments and to develop a “repeatable process for future model releases.”

OpenAI said that it does not believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default, stating, “It keeps the best tools from users, developers, enterprises, cyber defenders, and global partners who need them.”

Model Capabilities

OpenAI said GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna are named based on capability tiers, with Sol being its “strongest model yet.” The company added that the model shows improvements across coding and biology and is its most capable model for cybersecurity.

The announcement comes two weeks after rival Anthropic said it had to abruptly disable access to its most advanced AI models after the U.S. government ordered restrictions on foreign users, citing national security concerns.

OpenAI Retail View

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for OPEAZZX was ‘extremely bearish,’ at the time of writing on Friday.

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