On July 8, 2026, OpenAI received U.S. government approval to broadly release GPT-5.6, ending a restricted preview limited to about 20 government-vetted partners. The Commerce Department’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation completed testing of the three-tier model family — Sol, Terra, and Luna — which had been withheld over capabilities in biology and cybersecurity. OpenAI expects to make all tiers generally available within weeks, marking the first time an American frontier AI lab has released a model on the government’s timeline rather than its own.
