According to The Information, OpenAI is limiting the release of its new model to a select group of close partners because the Trump administration directed it to. CEO Sam Altman reportedly told staff at a meeting this week that the government would be "approving access customer by customer" during a preview period, and that if the limited release goes well, OpenAI hopes to follow with a broader release "a couple of weeks later."
The agencies that reportedly requested the limited release were the Office of the National Cyber Director and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The Information reported that OpenAI's new model is being reviewed by the administration and that company staffers "worked closely" with the government on the upcoming release.
Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order directing certain AI companies to voluntarily submit new models to the government for testing and evaluation before releasing them publicly. The Trump administration, which originally positioned itself as taking a "hands off" approach to AI, has in recent months pushed for federal oversight of new models.
The pressure on OpenAI mirrors the approach Anthropic has voluntarily taken with its frontier cyber model Claude Mythos, which is released only to a small group of partners through a program called Project Glasswing. Anthropic argued the model was too powerful to release broadly, though observers have debated whether the framing reflects a legitimate safety effort or marketing.