OpenAI is delaying the public release of its next-generation AI models, GPT-5.6, at the request of the Trump administration, the company confirmed on Friday, according to a report by WIRED. The decision creates an uncertain environment for enterprise customers who rely on frontier AI for business applications, including supply chain optimization and trade documentation.
Government-Approved Access Only
OpenAI said it would first share the models with a small set of customers, which will be pre-approved by the US government. It will then work with the administration to slowly expand access, according to WIRED. The company is not happy about this, according to a person familiar with its thinking, but believes the delay and government approval process is only temporary. In a blog post, OpenAI said it hopes to make GPT-5.6 available to everyone in the coming weeks.
"We don't believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default," OpenAI wrote in its blog post, as reported by WIRED. "It keeps the best tools from users, developers, enterprises, cyber defenders, and global partners who need them. We are taking this short-term step because we believe it is the strongest path to broader availability in the coming weeks, while we work with the Administration to develop the cyber Executive Order framework and a repeatable process for future model releases."
Three Model Variants: Sol, Terra, Luna
OpenAI says its GPT-5.6 AI models will come in three flavors:
- Sol: the most capable version of the model
- Terra: a middle-tier version
- Luna: a fast and affordable version
The company says GPT-5.6 Sol is its most capable model yet on benchmarks testing cybersecurity, biology, and agentic abilities. Alongside these new capabilities, OpenAI says it has a "layered safeguard stack," which aims to stop bad actors from using its AI.
Executive Order and Regulatory Uncertainty
Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order that aimed to address the cybersecurity concerns of powerful new AI models. The order said the White House would create a "voluntary process" for AI labs to share their models with the government 30 days ahead of a broader release. The mandate included a carve-out, saying the US government would not turn its voluntary process into a de-facto licensing regime for AI model releases. But in its Friday briefing, OpenAI executives said no such voluntary framework exists yet. As a result, the frontier AI labs are in a very weird interim period, where working with the US government on AI model launches doesn't seem all that voluntary, according to WIRED.
Impact on Enterprise and AI Labs
The Trump administration's request for OpenAI to stagger release comes just two weeks after it sent an export control directive to Anthropic, which prompted the company to take its most advanced AI models offline for all customers. Anthropic's spat with the White House is still unresolved, and some of the company's own employees are still barred from using its most advanced AI models.
OpenAI plans to broaden the set of customers it can share GPT-5.6 with next week, including some international partners. Executives for OpenAI said that it can't share details of how exactly the White House is approving these customers—the company just sends the US government a list, and then gets feedback on it, the executives said, as reported by WIRED.
Over the last two years, the Trump administration has sought to clear regulation and red tape that could hinder America's AI innovation, and potentially hurt the country's competitiveness with China. In recent months, however, the White House has grown increasingly concerned about the cybersecurity abilities of new AI models, and has scrambled to address the problem.
Implications for Enterprise Customers
For enterprise technology buyers in sectors like supply chain and logistics, the delay and government approval process create uncertainty around access to the latest AI capabilities. Companies that had planned to integrate GPT-5.6 for trade document processing, customs classification, or freight optimization must now wait for government clearance. The tiered rollout—starting with a small set of US government-approved customers—could slow enterprise adoption of AI tools that promise to reduce costs and errors in global trade operations.
The White House didn't immediately respond to WIRED's request for comment.
