Trump administration asks OpenAI to delay GPT-5.6 release over security concerns

The White House is asking OpenAI to slow roll the release of its new model over safety concerns

OpenAI's release of its newest model, GPT 5.6, reportedly won't be like its previous releases. Instead of distributing it to the public, the company plans to share it only with a select group of close partners because the Trump administration told it to, reports The Information. At a meeting this week, CEO Sam Altman reportedly told staff that the government would be "approving access customer by customer" during a preview period. Altman reportedly added that if the limited release goes well, OpenAI hopes to follow with a general, broader release a "couple of weeks later." In other words, the Trump administration appears to be pressuring OpenAI to do what Anthropic is already voluntarily doing: keeping its most powerful AI models under wraps. According to The Information, OpenAI's new model is not only being reviewed by the administration, but its staffers also "worked closely" with the government on the upcoming release. The agencies that reportedly asked for a limited release were the Office of the National Cyber Director and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The Trump administration -- which originally positioned itself as taking a "hands off" approach to AI -- has in recent months pushed for federal oversight of new models. Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order directing certain AI companies to voluntarily submit new models to the government for testing and evaluation before releasing them publicly. Earlier this year, Anthropic sparked no small amount of controversy when it announced that its new frontier cyber model, Claude Mythos, would only be released to a small coterie of partners through a program called Project Glasswing. Anthropic argued that its model was simply too powerful and could, in the wrong hands, cause more harm than good. Observers have since debated whether Anthropic's rhetoric is a mere marketing gimmick or a legitimate attempt to keep a powerful model from being misused. The answer may be somewhere in between. Cybercriminals have used automated tools for a very long time, but in the age of generative AI, they now have more digital ammunition than ever before. LLMs have proven adept at writing malware, and some can even execute entire ransomware attacks autonomously. The specific concern with frontier cyber tools like Mythos is that they are ostensibly capable of both identifying and exploiting software vulnerabilities at speeds that no human analyst could match. Since many software systems contain hidden bugs that act as entry points into enterprise networks, this obviously poses an obvious and significant problem for any organization running complex software infrastructure. That said, since these models remain closed to the public, it's difficult to tell just how much of a threat they really are.

OpenAI will delay GPT-5.6 after Trump administration request

The Trump administration, apprehensive of potential security issues, has reportedly asked OpenAI to stagger the release of its next big-ticket model, GPT-5.6. The Information reported that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees Wednesday in a company Q&A that it would release GPT-5.6 in limited preview form -- granting access only to a small group of enterprise customers -- in compliance with a request from the federal government. During that preview period, the Trump administration itself would reportedly approve access for customers on a case-by-case basis. It's a more favorable deal than the Trump administration gave OpenAI rival Anthropic, which earlier this month received an ultimatum requiring it to suspend access to its Mythos 5 and Fable 5, models. The administration issued an export control directive that prohibited "foreign nationals" from accessing the technology (including any of Anthropic's own employees who were not US citizens). The seemingly heavy-handed approach to AI regulation, after promises from the Trump administration that it would take a "speed wins" approach to the technology and encourage an American AI exports program, raised alarm bells across the tech industry. Now, some of those concerns seem to be coming to pass -- and in a decidedly uneven way, depending on the company.

OpenAI will initially only release ChatGPT 5.6 to government-approved customers - Engadget

You may not be able to use the new ChatGPT 5.6 as soon as it's finished. According to a report in The Information, OpenAI plans to stagger the release of its new AI model, and the first users will only be parties that are approved by the federal government. The publication's sources said that, according to a staff memo from CEO Sam Altman, federal leaders will be "approving access customer by customer during this preview period," hopefully followed a "couple of weeks later" by a more general release of the 5.6 model. "We've made clear to the US government that this is not our preferred long term model, and will work with them and others in industry to achieve a more sustainable approach for future releases," Altman reportedly told employees in the memo. Several agencies appear to be involved in directing the change in course from OpenAI. The Information cited interactions with the Office of the National Cyber Director and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, as well as involvement from Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Neither the White House's nor the Office of the National Cyber Director's representatives replied to the publication's requests for comment. President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month asking AI companies to participate in a voluntary federal review of their more powerful models before they are publicly released. The government is expected to create a framework to standardize how it will assess new models. Shortly after, however, OpenAI rival Anthropic disabled all access to two of its recent models following a federal directive. That order didn't provide specifics around its security concerns, only that the government wanted to block access to Anthropic's tools for any foreign nationals. Between that instance and this additional stage to OpenAI's latest rollout, there still appears to be a fair bit of confusion around how the review process will work and just how voluntary it is.

Trump administration asks OpenAI to limit next model release over security concerns

Why it matters: This marks the first time the U.S. government has preemptively asked an American AI company to restrict the launch of a model before release. Driving the news: The White House's Office of the National Cyber Director and the Office of Science and Technology Policy asked OpenAI to limit the rollout of GPT-5.6 as the administration builds a framework for testing and evaluating the security of new models, per the source. * The Information reported earlier Thursday that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared the plans for a limited rollout in a memo to employees. * "We've made clear to the U.S. government that this is not our preferred long term model, and will work with them and others in industry to achieve a more sustainable approach for future releases," Altman said in the memo, according to The Information. Between the lines: The source told Axios that OpenAI has been proactively working with the administration on the model release since before Anthropic revoked access to its frontier models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, over a rare Commerce Department directive. * The White House has been looped in on the capabilities of OpenAI's new model and has been able to preview its abilities. Flashback: President Trump signed an AI security executive order earlier this month that directs several agencies to stand up a voluntary testing protocol for AI companies prior to releasing a new model. * Political infighting over how restrictive and mandatory that program should be delayed the executive order for weeks. The big picture: AI labs are caught in a tough position as they race to release new models to compete not only with one another, but with increasingly capable Chinese open-source models. * Meanwhile, security officials and corporate leaders are growing increasingly concerned about what happens when bad actors -- including nation-state spies, cybercriminals and rogue insiders -- get their hands on these highly capable models. What to watch: Altman said in the memo that he hopes to be able to release GPT-5.6 a "couple of weeks later," per The Information.