OpenAI launches a limited preview of GPT-5.6 for a'small group of trusted partners' OpenAI launches a limited preview of GPT-5.6 for a'small group of trusted partners' The model's three variants will be available more broadly in the coming weeks. OpenAI has started previewing its GPT 5.6 series, which will be available in three versions, to a limited number of trusted partners. The company says the variant Sol is its strongest model yet, while Terra is for everyday use and has a similar performance to GPT 5.5 despite being twice as cheap. Luna, the last variant, is the company's lowest cost model. OpenAI plans to give them a broad release sometime in the coming weeks.

How People in China Keep Outsmarting Anthropic's Geolocation Restrictions As Anthropic tightens restrictions on access to Claude in China, users keep finding new workarounds, from proxy services to fake identities sourced on Telegram. Anthropic goes to great lengths to prevent people in China from using its AI models, but in practice, its safeguards have often failed. Over the past year, startups, researchers, and tech enthusiasts across the country have developed increasingly sophisticated workarounds to access Claude. Many of them consider it the world's most capable AI assistant, making the extra effort to obtain it worthwhile. In early June, Anthropic publicly released Fable 5, a safeguarded version of its most powerful AI model to date, Mythos.

OpenAI's ChatGPT showed left-leaning bias 80% of the time, according to a new study testing AI chatbots including Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, and Grok for political bias.

OpenAI has released its most powerful GPT-5.6 models (Sol, Terra, and Luna) but only to trusted partners and organizations following a U.S. government request for limited rollout. PCWorld reports that the flagship Sol model directly competes with Anthropic's restricted Fable and Mythos models, featuring enhanced layered safeguards against misuse. A wider public release remains uncertain due to regulatory concerns about the models' advanced capabilities and potential security implications. The U.S. government ban on Anthropic's powerful Fable and Mythos models has everybody spooked. That's why it's a little surprising that OpenAI, Anthropic's biggest rival, is slowly rolling out its latest and most powerful GPT models.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Run private, reliable local AI workflows with MSI's Cubi NUC AI+ 3MG mini PC, built for compact on-device AI, agents, and secure automation. Agentic AI is the current buzzword of the day, but if you're chatting with ChatGPT, having Gemini make images for you, or coding with Claude, then you're almost exclusively interacting with a cloud AI ecosystem. This is great for the most capable, frontier models, but it's dependent on server uptime, gives few guarantees for privacy and security, and once you start running agents, token costs can quickly run away from you. For smaller, everyday AI tasks, persistent agentic work, or partnering with more powerful cloud or local AI tools, small-scale local AI PCs can be ideal.

OpenAI Has New AI Models. The White House asked OpenAI to delay the rollout of its GPT-5.6 AI models, two weeks after Anthropic had to take its most advanced AI models offline. OpenAI is delaying the public release of its next generation of AI models, GPT-5.6, at the request of Trump's White House, the company confirmed on Friday. OpenAI said it would first share the models with a small set of customers, which will be preapproved by the US government. It will then work with the administration to slowly expand access.

OpenAI updated its GPT-5.5 Instant model with enhanced intent understanding and better ability to follow complex instructions and user clarifications. PCWorld reports the update includes improved location data usage for more effective local business and product searches. This minor release focuses on making AI interactions more intuitive, though its real-world impact requires further observation. Earlier this week, OpenAI announced via release notes that it has updated its most widely used AI model: GPT-5.5 Instant. According to the company, GPT-5.5 Instant should now be better at understanding the underlying intent of a question and keeping track of context across multiple messages.

It's a stretch to think that the continent can build a top-tier model, but it has an advantage: Donald Trump. Emmanuel Macron, president of France, discussed AI's risks at the G7 Summit. Earlier this month I attended Vivatech, a huge tech conference in Paris. One fear dominated the discussions: the prospect of ending up stuck using American AI, trained on American values. While the US and China are locked in an AI arms race, France and Germany, which consider their engineering talent second to none, feel boxed out.

OpenAI had been working with the US government over a preview of the GPT 5.6 model. OpenAI had been working with the US government over a preview of the GPT 5.6 model. Sam Altman announces limited preview of GPT 5.6 in move that echoes launch of Anthropic's Mythos OpenAI is staggering the release of its latest AI model after a request from the US government, in a move echoing the launch of Anthropic's Mythos product. Sam Altman, the chief executive of the company behind ChatGPT, told staff this week that GPT 5.6 would be released in a limited preview to a small group of partners, according to the tech publication The Information. Altman said the federal government had asked for a staggered release.

Plus: The Trump administration has asked OpenAI to limit its next model release. Scientists are trying to figure out why. It's been hot in London this week. A dangerous heat wave has hit Western Europe. On Wednesday, the UK recorded its highest ever June temperature at 36.1 C (about 97 F). But as the weather app on my phone confirmed, it 39 C. Much of Western Europe is suffering, bringing awful consequences for agriculture, infrastructure, and the health system.