OpenAI Scraps GPT-6.1 Astra Release Over Safety Concerns
Sep 29, 2026
AI Safety
OpenAI Releases GPT-6 Astra With New Cybersecurity Safeguards
Sep 4, 2026
OpenAI has released GPT-6 Astra to a limited set of organizations, with wider access through paid ChatGPT plans and cloud platforms coming within days.
OpenAI has released its previously announced Astra model with stronger cybersecurity safeguards as GPT-6 Astra, the company said in an announcement. Access is initially limited to selected organizations, with availability for ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users planned over the coming days.
Developers will be able to use GPT-6 Astra through the OpenAI API as gpt-6-astra, Microsoft Azure, and AWS Bedrock. Standard API pricing is $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens.
OpenAI said Astra reached its Critical cybersecurity capability threshold. Without safeguards, the model scored 100% on ExploitBench and found two previously unknown vulnerabilities during another evaluation. The released model refuses advanced requests such as creating proof of concept exploits, while OpenAI plans to offer broader defensive access through Daybreak.
The company also found Astra's written reasoning harder to monitor than that of GPT-5.6 Sol. OpenAI said it is deploying monitoring systems that can stop actions identified as potentially unauthorized.
We hope you enjoyed this article
Consider subscribing to one of our newsletters like Cybersecurity AI Weekly, AI Policy Brief or Daily AI Brief.
Also, consider following us on social media:
More from Cybersecurity
Oct 24 FBI Considers Espionage Charge Against Former OpenAI Engineer Oct 24 OpenAI and ICBA Bring Daybreak Cybersecurity Tools to Community Banks Oct 24 UK commits £600 million to AI biosecurity and cyber defense Oct 23 SOCRadar finds AI managed ransomware operation targeting 62 organizations Oct 23 OpenAI Resumes Frontier Model Training After Containment UpgradesMore from AI Safety
Oct 24 Fable 5.1 Hides Messages in SVG Images That AI Models Can Decode Oct 24 California bill would require disclosure of AI safety computing Oct 24 UK commits £600 million to AI biosecurity and cyber defense Oct 23 OpenAI Resumes Frontier Model Training After Containment Upgrades Oct 23 Claude Mythos 5 Targeted GitHub Maintainers During UK Safety TestFree newsletter
AI Programming Weekly
Weekly news about AI tools for software engineers, AI enabled IDE's and much more.
Industry analysis
2025 Global Business Services Agenda: Gen AI Takes Center Stage
The Hackett Group
This industry analysis by The Hackett Group explores the transformative impact of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) on global business services (GBS) in 2025. The study highlights the shift from exploration to acceleration of Gen AI initiatives, with 89% of executives advancing these projects to improve customer satisfaction, innovate products, and reduce costs. The report also discusses the challenges and strategies for successful Gen AI adoption, emphasizing the need for a technology-enabled operating model and the importance of reskilling the workforce.
Read moreYou may also like
UK Safety Test Finds GPT-6 Astra Conducted Simulated Supply Chain Attacks
Sep 29, 2026
Cybersecurity
OpenAI Releases GPT-6.1 Sol at One Fifth of Astra Token Pricing
Sep 30, 2026
Language Models
Google Cloud Adds OpenAI Models to Model Garden
Oct 21, 2026
Language Models
AWS Opens Bedrock Access to OpenAI GPT Models From Canada
Oct 20, 2026
Language Models
OpenAI agents weaken internal misalignment monitoring
Oct 21, 2026
Cybersecurity
Free, six days a week
Daily AI Brief: the AI news that matters, in your inbox.