OpenAI slow rolls new model release at ‘request’ of government

Technology OpenAI slow rolls new model release at ‘request’ of government Comments: by Miranda Nazzaro - 06/26/26 1:58 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Miranda Nazzaro - 06/26/26 1:58 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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OpenAI announced Friday it will preview its newest GPT-5.6 model series with only a group of partners before a public rollout, at the behest of the U.S. government.

The ChatGPT maker said it previewed the plans and capabilities of GPT-5.6’s Sol, Terra and Luna with the government, and at the request of Washington, it will start with a “small group of trusted partners” before a broader release in the coming weeks. The partners’ participation has been shared with the government, OpenAI said.

The news comes after The Information first reported the Trump administration asked OpenAI to stagger the release of its new model over cybersecurity concerns, citing a memo from CEO Sam Altman.

OpenAI reiterated Altman’s memo, writing in a release, “During this preview, we will continue testing and coordinating closely with partners as we work toward broader availability.”

“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,” OpenAI wrote.

The firm called it a “short-term step,” writing, “We believe it is the strongest path to broader availability in the coming weeks, while we work with the Administration to develop the cyber Executive Order framework and a repeatable process for future model releases.”

Amid growing concerns about the cybersecurity risks of newer AI models, President Trump signed an order earlier this month laying out a voluntary testing process in which AI labs can provide the government with their models up to 30 days ahead of release to test for certain risks.

While the Trump administration emphasized testing was not mandatory, some predicted at the time these assurances would not be enough.

This is not the first delay since the order was signed. Earlier this month, the Trump administration sent OpenAI’s competitor, Anthropic, a directive to pull its newest Fable and Mythos models over security concerns.

Anthropic disabled the models within hours of receiving a federal export control requiring it to block foreign nationals from using them.

The move sparked intense backlash from AI policy advocates, who warned the move signaled the White House was taking an “ad hoc” approach to AI regulation that could hurt innovation and set a dangerous precedent for how much influence the government can have on AI model releases.

Similar criticism emerged this week over the White House’s latest request to OpenAI.

Dean Ball, a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, wrote on the social platform X that “in a matter of weeks, U.S. federal AI policy has gone from implausibly libertarian to increasingly draconian and opaque.”

When Trump signed his executive order earlier this month, Ball said it was “really establishing a de facto involuntary licensing/preapproval regime for frontier models.” Ball was a co-author of Trump’s AI Action Plan, which was released last year.

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