OpenAI begins rolling out Astra model after warning of its advanced cyber capabilities

OpenAI on Thursday announced it will begin rolling out its latest artificial intelligence model, GPT-6 Astra, which the company said is the product of "years of research and big bets."

The model is launching in phases, and OpenAI said a limited group of companies participating in its application-based cybersecurity program Daybreak will be the first to get access. OpenAI disclosed earlier this week that Astra is its first model to reach its "Critical" internal cybersecurity threshold, and said it planned to limit access to those advanced capabilities.

OpenAI has been under pressure to shore up its security and safety protections after two of its models escaped containment, accessed the open web and breached Hugging Face's systems last month.

The company temporarily paused some of its research and training efforts following the incident, including for Astra, even though it was not one of the models involved.

"AI can only benefit people when safety is a core part of it, and so we're putting more compute and effort towards safety, security, alignment than ever before," OpenAI President Greg Brockman said during a briefing with reporters on Thursday.