OpenAI limits its newest ChatGPT product to Trump-approved customers during cybersecurity review

The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cellphone with an image on a computer monitor generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

2026-06-26T17:08:38Z

ChatGPT maker OpenAI said Friday it is restricting the release of its new artificial intelligence model at the request of President Donald Trump’s administration, the latest in an unprecedented government vetting of AI products that could pose cybersecurity risks.

OpenAI said its new AI product, called GPT-5.6 Sol, would only be available for now to a “small group of trusted partners” approved by the Trump administration.

“We don’t believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default,” OpenAI said in a statement. The company said it viewed the testing period as a temporary step on the “path to broader availability in the coming weeks.”

OpenAI’s staggered release of a powerful new AI system follows actions the government took earlier this month against OpenAI rival Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot.

Anthropic took offline two new AI models, known as Fable 5 and Mythos 5, just days after publicly releasing them to comply with a Trump directive blocking their use by foreign nationals.

Officials have grown increasingly concerned since Anthropic warned earlier this year that its Mythos model was adept at finding flaws in software in a way that could be weaponized by malicious hackers and threaten critical computer networks around the world.

Trump earlier in June signed an executive order on AI oversight that established a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to 30 days before their public release. The order described participation by AI developers as voluntary but the framework has not yet been fully developed.

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OpenAI said its new Sol model “is better at helping people find and fix vulnerabilities” than it is at carrying out cyberattacks and does not cross the company’s own risk threshold. But it acknowledged there could be unforeseen risks especially if its model is combined with other tools.

“That uncertainty, along with the model’s broader step change in capabilities, is why we are pairing the model’s increased capabilities with stronger safeguards and a phased release,” the company said Friday.

MATT O’BRIEN O’Brien covers the business of technology and artificial intelligence for The Associated Press. mailto