OpenAI scraps release of new AI model over safety concerns

OpenAI has scrapped the release of GPT-6.1 Astra, a next-generation artificial intelligence model planned for an October debut, after internal testing found the system did not meet the company's ‌safety and alignment standards, the ChatGPT maker confirmed on Monday.

Company says internal testing determined GPT-6.1 Astra didn't meet safety standards

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Sep 28, 2026 9:35 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

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OpenAI has scrapped the release of GPT-6.1 Astra, a next-generation artificial intelligence model planned for an October debut, after internal testing found the system did not meet the company's ‌safety and alignment standards, the ChatGPT maker confirmed on Monday.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and rival Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei earlier this month joined industry leaders in calling for a slower pace ​of AI development and stronger safety measures.

OpenAI has ​warned that Astra, its flagship GPT-6 model, can at times evade human oversight, while the company and rivals such as ​Anthropic have faced scrutiny over experimental AI systems that breached ⁠safeguards, including an ⁠OpenAI model that accessed Australia's health system ‌database.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in the day that OpenAI had abandoned plans to launch the model, which was expected to be integrated into ChatGPT and Codex and was designed to handle ⁠more complex tasks without human assistance.

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The Journal reported that GPT-6.1 Astra also showed higher levels of deception than its predecessor in internal testing, including instances in ‌which it did not always accurately disclose what actions it had taken.

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"While [GPT-6.1 Astra] improved on axes such as model laziness, it didn't quite meet the bar in terms of staying within scope and ​authorization, and how it communicates back to the user about the type of work it's done," ⁠said Saachi Jain, head of safety systems at OpenAI.

"Of course we want ⁠to make sure our model development is safe no matter whether that's ⁠in ⁠the company, or when ​we ship it to users. But when we ship it to users, we have ​an extremely high bar ⁠in terms of safety and alignment," Jain said.

The decision comes just ahead of OpenAI's developer conference in San Francisco, where the company has previously unveiled products aimed at software developers.