OpenAI Begins Staggered Rollout of GPT-6 Astra After Cybersecurity Pause

OpenAI has begun a staggered rollout of GPT-6 Astra, describing it as the company’s latest and most capable artificial intelligence model.

In an announcement on its website, OpenAI said Astra represents a “significant step up in cyber capabilities” and meets the company’s “Critical” threshold. According to OpenAI, that threshold means Astra can, under the right circumstances, find “previously unknown security flaws” and develop new ways to exploit them across well-protected systems without a person guiding each step.

OpenAI also said Astra improves computer use, software engineering, and science capabilities, while staying better oriented than previous versions.

The company said it paused some internal development roughly a month earlier after Astra’s cybersecurity capabilities triggered safety protocols. It then expanded certain security controls and paused activities that did not meet its newly established security requirements.

Astra is initially available only to a limited group of companies in the Daybreak program, a cybersecurity initiative that gives vetted organizations specialized AI tools for vulnerability research and threat detection.

OpenAI had initially planned access for Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users, as well as users accessing Astra through OpenAI API, Microsoft Azure, and AWS Bedrock. CEO Sam Altman later apologized on X for the “messy rollout” and said the company was working to make Astra available more broadly.