OpenAI is rolling out GPT-6 Astra, the latest model to come to ChatGPT, following a self-imposed delay to help ensure its security features are used responsibly.
As PCMag’s James Peckham reports, OpenAI calls Astra the “world’s most intelligent and aligned model,” claiming it’s state-of-the-art for browsing, computer use, cybersecurity, software engineering, science, and professional work. AI companies tend to hype up every model release, however, so we’ll have to see how it performs in practice.
GPT-6 Astra is rolling out to organizations in OpenAI’s Daybreak program, with a release coming for paid subscribers on Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans in the next few days. OpenAI has not yet clarified whether free users will be able to access GPT-6 Astra, but if it follows its previous rollouts, free access with limits may come at a later date.
The rollout got off to a “messy” start, CEO Sam Altman says. Those who couldn’t access it will get “one banked reset for every day you don’t have access to Astra on your paid ChatGPT plan, starting today,” OpenAI’s Thibault Sottiaux tweeted. “Team is moving mountains to give access as fast as we can.”
How does Astra Compare to Claude and Gemini?
The Astra model outperforms OpenAI’s previous releases, with benchmarks showing it beats competitors such as Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5.1 and Google’s latest Gemini 3.8 Flash across a range of intensive tests.
GPT-6 came out on top in benchmarking results for ARC-AGI-3, which tests the ability to solve unfamiliar problems; FrontierMath Tier 4 (v2), for mathematical problems; Terminal Bench 4.0, for coding; and Agent’s Last Exam, for agentic features.
OpenAI says the tool is better for agentic work than previous models, with what it calls “substantial improvements in understanding user intent and model behavior,” allowing you to delegate tasks more effectively and be confident the model won’t misunderstand you.
It also claims agents will have improved decision-making when a prompt doesn’t clearly explain a task, meaning you’re less likely to receive incorrect information. GPT-6 is also said to be faster than ever for browser and computer work.
A New Approach to Security
OpenAI confirmed previously announced plans to limit the cybersecurity features within GPT-6 Astra, citing concerns that its advancements could be used by bad actors to launch sophisticated attacks. “Astra will refuse to comply with more advanced cybersecurity tasks such as creating proof-of-concept exploits for vulnerabilities,” it says.
Instead, it’s letting its select Daybreak business partners begin experimenting with the full tool, allowing each to use Astra to identify flaws in their own systems before patching them. This comes after in-development models, unrelated to Astra, were found to have broken containment and hacked another AI platform, Hugging Face, last month. OpenAI slowed the development and rollout of future models to strengthen security measures after the incident.
We Are Now in the AGI Era
In a press briefing attended by The Guardian, OpenAI President Greg Brockman said he believes this is the start of the artificial general intelligence (AGI) era, a term used to describe the moment when AI can surpass human intelligence across cognitive tasks. “If we fast-forward a couple of years, and we look back and say, when was it really that AGI was created, I think it’s going to be about this time, and I think it might be about this model,” he said.
“I think it’s not unreasonable to feel that we are now in the AGI era,” he added. Altman, however, recently told the Sources podcast that “At best, [AGI is] a very poorly defined term. I was going to say it’s like an irrelevant marketing term.”
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang appears to agree. “For many tasks, we could say that we have already achieved AGI. I think all of those milestones…are kind of senseless at this point,” Huang said in an earnings call last week.
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