OpenAI unveiled a limited preview of its GPT-5.6 model suite on Friday, less than 24 hours after reports that the company would stagger the release at the request of the Trump administration. The suite includes Sol, the flagship; Terra, a medium-tier model for "high-volume work"; and Luna, a "fast and affordable" everyday model. OpenAI says GPT-5.6 is especially skilled at coding, cybersecurity, and biology, and at staying focused during long-horizon agentic AI tasks.
Per million tokens, GPT-5.6 Sol is priced at $5 input / $30 output — nearly half the cost of Anthropic's Claude Fable 5, which is $10 input / $50 output. Terra is half the cost of Sol, and Luna is less than half the cost of Terra. Sol also gained two additional modes: a "max" mode for deeper reasoning and an "ultra" mode for leveraging sub-agents, evoking OpenClaw.
Most of OpenAI's announcement blog post was devoted to safety and potential misuse, amid a security climate in Washington, D.C. The company referenced recent jailbreaking issues at rival Anthropic, writing that GPT-5.6 is trained to refuse prohibited cyber assistance, including disguised or jailbreak attempts. Sol does not cross the cyber-critical threshold under OpenAI's preparedness framework, though the company noted it recently revised that framework in April, removing some areas of previous study.
OpenAI said it dedicated approximately 700,000 A100e GPU hours to automated red-teaming and also worked with third-party testers, who will continue testing for the next two weeks. The company said safeguards may occasionally intervene on legitimate work during the preview period, which is being closely monitored by the Trump administration.