OpenAI Releases Three New AI Models but Restricts Initial Access to Select Partners

OpenAI announced three new artificial intelligence models on Friday but is complying with the U.S. government's request to initially limit the rollout to a small group of trusted partners, Cnbc reported. The models are named GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna.

The company stated in a blog post that it believes in broad access and is working to make the models generally available in the coming weeks. OpenAI previewed the models' capabilities and shared its plans with the government ahead of the launch. It did not disclose the names of the partners that can use the models.

"We don't believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default," OpenAI said. " The company added that it is taking the short-term step because it believes the approach offers the strongest path to broader availability.

The announcement follows a similar action by rival Anthropic, which disabled access to two of its latest models two weeks earlier to comply with an export control directive from the Trump administration.

But has not stated when it expects its models to come back online. President Donald Trump signed an AI executive order earlier this month that asked developers to voluntarily allow the government to assess model capabilities ahead of a full release.

OpenAI said it is working with the Trump administration to establish a framework for such assessments and to develop a repeatable process for future model releases.

OpenAI stated that Sol is its strongest offering yet and shows improvements across coding and biology. The company described Sol as its most capable model for cybersecurity, noting that it is better at helping users fix vulnerabilities than at carrying out end-to-end attacks and does not cross into the company's critical cybersecurity risk threshold.