Tag: chatgpt

GPT-6 comes to Chat, with preliminary answers and visual «Intelligent UI»

With the rollout of ChatGPT-6 Sol and Luna in chat for all tiers today, OpenAI is also launching much more interactive replies.

In addition, GPT-6 is gaining a new function best described as partial responses, letting the model respond to a query while it is still reasoning, updating along the way as it arrives at its answer.

The bigger deal for OpenAI is however the richer, interactive HTML-like responses that put pictures and diagrams right in the replies.

These can also be interactive and change as you click buttons, sub-heads or navigate a diagram, all generated on the fly.

That means you get maps for planning road trips, workable calculators for splitting bills and clickable charts for history buffs, all laid out like you were reading a presentation on the web.

The update is rolling out today with GPT-6 in chat, with Sol for the paid tiers and Luna for Free and Go. Codex and Work see no changes. The rollout is staggered and might take a while to propagate.

Read more: OpenAI’s presentation, launch post. The Verge, Wired, and MacRumors. Discussion on Hacker News and r/OpenAI.

Following the AI Act, ChatGPT will be getting text watermarks in the EU

It’s easy to edit away text watermarks, OpenAI says. (Picture: generated)
Even if the technology is troublesome, OpenAI says they will be adding their invisible watermarks, textGrain, to outputs «over the coming weeks» for users in the European Union.

Article 50 of the AI Act clearly states that «providers of generative AI systems» must «mark outputs in a machine-readable format» and make it detectable as «generated or manipulated.»

The verification of these watermarks is trickier, as OpenAI will only be opening the watermark detector to approved researchers and «expert organizations» to «help improve the technology.»

They also caution that the watermark detection drops profoundly for edited text and are less reliable for shorter outputs.

Watermarks won’t divulge who owns the text or is responsible for it, don’t identify the user or verify accuracy — and the lack of one doesn’t necessarily prove human authorship. OpenAI also add that watermarks don’t reveal the level of assistance, as a user could have used ChatGPT to merely proofread a text, for example.

OpenAI already provides their images and audio with invisible SynthID tags that can be checked at openai.com/verify, but it is unclear if this page will also be detecting text in the future.

Anthropic also complied with the AI Act in August, with many of the same caveats.

Read more: OpenAI’s announcement, X post. TechCrunch, The Verge, and Gizmodo.

OpenAI launches Dots, a persistent, personal agent that gets to know you

Your friendly neighbourhood agent. Dots could do all your tedious work, and update in the background. (Picture: OpenAI)
Dots is OpenAI’s answer to OpenClaw and Muse. It’s an always-on agent powered by GPT-Astra that can solve tasks and do things on your behalf.

It has its own computer in the cloud and can work just like you would like it to, and the more you use it, the better it gets to know you and how you work.

Dots has something other agents will find it difficult to compete with — OpenAI’s large universe of 4,000 plugins, apps and connectors, including of course services like Teams and Slack.

Users can reach it through ChatGPT on the web or the app, through SMS messages, Slack or Teams. You can even call it on the phone.

It can also be proactive, using the tools and apps you have connected to check for progress and updates while you are offline.

Users can check on Dot’s progress at any time, and set granular limits and permissions. It can’t send messages on your behalf unless you grant it permission.

The vision for Dots is to make it contain teams of multiple agents that collaborate on tasks rather than just the one, giving users their own personal agent swarm.

To begin with, Dots is only available for Pro, Business Premium and Enterprise users (including Edu and Healthcare subscriptions) at no extra cost.

Read more: OpenAI’s presentation. Reuters, Engadget, Wired, and NYT. Discussion on Hacker News and r/Singularity.

OpenAI delays October release of Astra 6.1 due to safety, alignment concerns

GPT-6.1 Astra is postponed until OpenAI can fix alignment and authorization issues. (Picture: generated)
With DevDay around the corner on September 29, promising «20+ releases» in one day, AI followers were getting giddy at the thought of a new OpenAI model, but this now seems off for a while.

Several outlets are now reporting that the scheduled October release of GPT-6.1-Astra has been postponed due to safety and misalignment issues.

The model reportedly had problems «staying within scope,» «authorization» and «communicating» about its work, Saachi Jain, OpenAI’s head of safety systems said in a statement shown to CNN.

— 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, Jain tells Reuters, — But when we ship it to users, we have an extremely high bar in terms of safety and alignment.

According to The Wall Street Journal, GPT-6.1 showed elevated levels of deception, and did not always disclose actions it had taken, which was worrying enough to postpone its release.

Read more: The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, CNN, and Reuters.

OpenAI releases GPT-6 Sol and Luna at half the price, with better efficiency

GPT-6 Sol and Luna come just under twenty days after the launch of Astra. (Picture OpenAI/generated)
OpenAI has launched GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, bringing technology from its flagship Astra model to cheaper and faster models — while cutting API prices in half.

GPT-6 Sol costs $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, half the promotional price of GPT-5.6 Sol.

GPT-6 Luna drops to $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 in output.

On OpenAI’s internal factuality evaluation, GPT-6 Sol makes around half as many errors as GPT-5.6 Sol and approaches Astra. At higher reasoning levels, Luna matches GPT-5.6 Sol while costing roughly one hundredth as much, according to the company.

Continue reading “OpenAI releases GPT-6 Sol and Luna at half the price, with better efficiency”

OpenAI says we are now in the «AGI era» with GPT-6 Astra launch

We’re going to look back on today as the time AGI arrived, Brockman says. (Picture: OpenAI)
Astra is a «generational leap» forward, OpenAI tells The Verge on a launch conference, and President Greg Brockman said basically that Artificial General Intelligence has arrived:

— For me personally, I do think we’re there … I think it’s not unreasonable to feel that we are now in the AGI era.

OpenAI says that Astra is the culmination of years of «big bets» on pre-training, reinforcement learning and alignment.

After first solving ten decades old mathematical problems, OpenAI’s launch numbers are equally impressive.

It tops just about every benchmark out there, sometimes by a lot, and saturates ARC-AGI-3 with a 99.9% score, beating the human baseline, which was thought impossible just weeks ago. It also scores 100% on ExploitBench, which measures how well the model can turn vulnerabilities into exploits, and gets 42.4% on ExploitGym, beating the last state of the art, Fable 5.1, with more than ten points.

It is also the first model measuring as «critical» for cybersecurity on OpenAIs Preparedness Framework, and OpenAI has spent a lot of time on alignment, safeguards and testing. It can effectively find and exploit zero-day (previously unknown) vulnerabilities. A model with «less restrictive» safeguards will be made available through the Daybreak program for vetted researchers and software testers.

Astra will be rolling out to most paid users within «a couple days,» and is currently only available to «a limited set of organizations.» It will cost $10 per million input tokens and $50 for outputs.

Read more: OpenAI’s presentation (with lots of benchmarks). The Verge, TechCrunch, NBC News, and Axios. Discussion on Hacker News and r/Singularity

Advertising in ChatGPT is now a projected billion dollar business

More people are seeing ads on ChatGPT and revenue is growing, OpenAI says. (Picture: generated)
In less than 200 days since launch, OpenAI’s ads business has reached a billion dollars in «annualized revenue run rate,» which means that they project this annual number from current revenue.

Ads started as a project only available to partners and agencies, which now counts more than 50 partners — and became a self-serve system in May, that now consists of a «material share» of the business.

ChatGPT only shows ads on the Free and Go tiers, which is used by the vast majority of their billion plus weekly users, and only in the current context of the conversation. It is possible to opt in to more general context from all conversations, though likely few people do that. The ads themselves have no access to said chats or context and don’t influence ChatGPT’s replies.

Having reached the billion dollar benchmark, OpenAI are now expanding the self-serve ad network to India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa — reaching a total of 40 countries.

Advertisers are «increasingly global,» and OpenAI says non-US revenue is a «growing share of revenue» as many advertisers are now reaching consumers in «multiple markets.»

OpenAI had originally projected $2.5 billion in advertising revenue for 2026, Reuters reports. They reached $100 million in annualized run-rate revenue in April this year, within six weeks since launch.

Read more: OpenAI’s announcement. Reuters, CNBC, and Axios.

ChatGPT gets an Apple Messages plugin — and it looks kind of useful

ChatGPT can now send messages on your behalf, but be careful with the permissions. (Picture: generated)
ChatGPT with Messages works in Work and Codex but not in regular chats. It can work across apps on your computer, so you can ask it to check the calendar for which days you are free for dinner and send it in a message to anyone in your Contacts.

The plugin can also search and analyze your messages and give you a list of, say, who you exchange the most messages with, which spam messages you can delete, or what messages need follow-ups.

OpenAI does say to be careful with permissions, as the plugin is required by default to get your approval before it sends any messages in your name. Without this setting, things can quickly get out of hand, so they recommend you keep it on.

— Persistent approval removes your final chance to review a message before ChatGPT sends it as you. Use it only when you accept that risk, OpenAI warns in its instructions.

The plugin runs locally on the user’s Mac and «doesn’t create an index of someone’s messages,» according to TechCrunch.

ChatGPT with Messages is free and available on all plans in the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS on Apple Silicon, and it can read and reply to anything Messages can receive. It does not, however, work the other way — and won’t let you interact with ChatGPT through SMS.

Read more: Announcement post and instructions. More on 9to5Mac, TechCrunch, MacRumors, and Bloomberg (paywalled).

As future models grow more capable in training, OpenAI pauses for security

Astra was already on hold, but now other models are joining the pause. (Picture: generated)
While calling for industry-wide coordination on safety in model training, OpenAI has unilaterally decided to pause the training of upcoming models.

— As models become more capable, the risks associated with developing and testing them internally also grow. Our standards for monitoring, alignment, and security must stay ahead of those risks, OpenAI writes.

This comes after the Hugging Face incident and Astra reaching critical on OpenAI’s Preparedness Framework and already being delayed.

Combined with rapid progress in their internal research, OpenAI says they have implemented a two week pause in training future models, while the «largest planned frontier reinforcement learning run» is put on hold.

They will now implement stronger sandboxing for certain code execution, better network isolation and internet caps, and pursue continuous testing for security, alignment, deception and reward hacking, with a thirty minute warning system for any adverse incident.

The AI lab expects most of this safety training to be handled by their own models in the future, greatly expanding their scope while also reducing the time needed.

Read more: OpenAI’s announcement and Sam Altman on X. Writeups on Axios, The Verge, and TechCrunch. Discussion on r/Singularity.

OpenAI delays upcoming Astra release over worries of «critical» cyber abilities

Astra is getting too advanced, and will be sandboxed and isolated for additional tests. (Picture: generated)
Just days before a rumored release, OpenAI is putting a lid on its much anticipated Astra model and says it might have reached «critical cyber capabilities.»

The consideration was undertaken in the last couple of days, and the decision was made only last night that the model could have reached the highest level of OpenAI’s Preparedness Framework.

That means it could possibly «identify and develop functional zero-day exploits without human intervention» and plan and execute «end-to-end» cyberattacks against hardened targets with only a high-end goal, OpenAI says.

The model is now being isolated in testing with capped network and tool access, as OpenAI deploys sandboxing, extra weight protections and encryption for the model.

They are also putting it under enhanced monitoring to check on its chain of thought for security, are working with «relevant government agencies» to test its capabilities, as well as preparing external testing partners for «high risk evaluations.»

Those who were hoping for an imminent release for this model will in other words be disappointed, as OpenAI now will take their time to strengthen safeguards, expand testing and «deploy additional security controls.»

The Astra model was last seen developing 20 proofs for open problems in mathematics with no human involvement. It was not involved in the Hugging Face incident.

Read more: OpenAI’s announcement, Sam Altman’s X post. Writeups on Axios, TechCrunch, and Reuters. Discussion on Hacker News and r/Singularity.

OpenAI makes GPT-5.6 the default on ChatGPT for free and paid users

Plus and Pro users are getting access to this handy reasoning slider. (Picture: OpenAI)
As ChatGPT has reached a billion weekly users, by far the highest use of any AI lab, OpenAI is updating their default models.

That means users on the Free plan get updated to GPT-5.6 Luna as the standard, with unlimited text chats. They can also access a better reasoning mode with a new «Think» button that can be used for tougher queries.

For Plus and Pro users, Sol is getting promoted to the default, even in the standard chat mode, Instant, that used to be handled by GPT-5.5.

At the same time, OpenAI says they have updated the Sol model itself. It should now deliver «more focused answers,» yet no news on the hedges, caveats and nitpicking that some users find annoying. In fact, OpenAI says it now «offers a helpful correction when simply agreeing wouldn’t be useful.» GPT Sol should also be 68% less error prone than GPT-5.5 Instant.

In addition, Plus and Pro users get an updated slider that pops up in the chat bar to immediately adjust the reasoning level, from Instant to High, Extra High and Pro, depending on the subscription.

The updates should be available «now,» but might take some time to propagate over the internet. The Sol version in use for Work and Codex won’t be changing.

Read more: OpenAI’s presentation, X post. Writeups on TechCrunch, Axios, and The Verge. Discussions on Hacker News and r/Singularity.

OpenAI’s next big model solves ten open mathematics problems

The new model, Astra, was apparently demoed in DC by Altman last week. (Picture: generated)
The breakthroughs in mathematics, quantum complexity, and theoretical computer science are not attributed to any humans, as OpenAI believes it would be wrong to take credit from the model, named Astra, that discovered the proofs on its own.

— Claiming human authorship for a proof generated entirely by an AI system would misrepresent both the system’s contribution and the nature of genuine human intellectual work, OpenAI says in their statement.

They further say that the proofs provided have «substantial interest» in their respective communities and could lead to further scientific work — if they hold up under peer review.

Humans were only used to prepare the manuscripts in conjunction with the Astra model, and the underlying research’s formalized Lean proofs. The report also contains the model’s chain of thought in dealing with the problems.

— The emergence of systems capable of contributing to mathematical research raises questions that cannot be answered by a technology company alone, OpenAI says.

All of the discoveries combined, each without movement for decades or longer, were solved using a combined token cost of some $2,000 at GPT Sol rates, OpenAI says, raising questions not only on whether scientific breakthroughs are possible on future AI systems, but also about the cost of such innovation

Read more: OpenAI’s announcement, the research paper. On the new model: Gizmodo, Bleeping Computer, and The Decoder. Discussion on Hacker News and r/Singularity.

PSA: OpenAI may be «shipping today,» likely something «token efficient»

UPDATE: It was a drastic price reduction for GPT-5.6 Luna, on level with GPT-5.4, which is now 80% cheaper at $0.20/$1.20 input/output, and Terra, on level with GPT-5.5, which is now 20% cheaper at $2.00/$12.00 in/out. Read more in OpenAI’s presentation.

An interesting set of statements from a couple of OpenAI insiders on X may reveal the finer points of an upcoming product release today (Thursday).

The conversation starts with Tibo Sottiaux, the product lead for Codex who is also known for posting updates and limit resets for ChatGPT Work.

He says they are shipping today and that the focus of the week is to make intelligence too cheap to meter — which is precisely where the squeeze lies for enterprise adoption.

Continue reading “PSA: OpenAI may be «shipping today,» likely something «token efficient»”

OpenAI to offer free Pro-level GPT to 100,000 scientists and researchers

Free ChatGPT is intended to supercharge select scientists. (Picture: generated)
The new program stems from a belief that science should be democratized and not be reserved for companies and a few «well-resourced labs.»

The move should also «significantly accelerate scientific discovery,» Sam Altman says, adding that we all deserve the benefits from free and open science.

Eligible academic research institutions should be «recognized, degree-granting colleges or universities» with documented levels of research activity, and approved researchers will be able to invite up to four collaborators from the same institution.

The researchers will get access to a Pro-level GPT subscription including Work, Codex and chat, with the latest frontier OpenAI models, even the Pro model when it arrives, and likely also to future offerings.

They also get «expanded deep research, higher usage limits, and larger context windows» to support their work. In addition to this comes 75 life science skills, specifically targeted on certain fields.

The program is starting off with 10,000 researchers this very summer, and expanding to 100,000 researchers through 2027, by which time even more advanced models are sure to surface.

Read more: OpenAI’s presentation, launch post on X. Writeups on Axios and Engadget.

OpenAI uses GPT-5.6 Sol to autonomously improve its own operations

GPT Sol is improving on its own inference, and now runs constantly to optimize operations. (Picture: generated)
Just one day after a warning on self-improvement, OpenAI is reporting that they put GPT-5.6 Sol to work in Codex to see if it could improve on its own server inference, the process of providing answers to queries after a model has been trained.

The model then «autonomously rewrote and optimized our production kernels,» OpenAI writes in a report.

That means it found work that could be «precomputed, avoided, or parallelized,» leading to a reduced serving cost of 20%.

On speculative decoding, which lets a model produce several tokens in one pass and reduce expensive GPU time, GPT-5.6 Sol designed and ran hundreds of experiments and monitored «the speculator training process.» The end result was improving token efficiency by «more than 15%.»

Not only that, but Sol now runs continuously in Codex to analyze production workloads previously thought too large for manual intervention and «hyper-optimizes» how the engine behind GPT is configured «for each scenario,» optimizing «every part» of the inference loop.

This frees up the team to explore more ideas and makes for lower latency and fewer inference tokens for users. It is also some of the first signs of how AI can be used to atonomously improve on itself in the compute loop and return real-world results, although you can be sure that most modern models are already coded with the help of their own coding engines, as with Claude.

Read more: OpenAI’s report, X post. Discussion on r/Singularity.