OpenAI announced Thursday the launch of its next generation AI model, GPT-6 Astra, which the company claims is state of the art at navigating computers and web browsers, writing software, and solving difficult math problems.
It plans to make GPT-6 Astra available to paid customers in the coming days, starting with a limited set of organizations, including enterprise clients in its Daybreak early access program, followed by ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise plan subscribers. OpenAI did not say whether GPT-6 Astra will be available to free users of ChatGPT.
In a press briefing with reporters, OpenAI executives made it clear that they feel very confident about the company’s latest AI model. President and cofounder Greg Brockman says he personally believes the world is now in the era of artificial general intelligence, or AI systems that are generally smarter than humans.
“It’s not unreasonable to feel that we are now in the AGI era,” Brockman told reporters. “I think that if we fast-forward a couple of years, when we look back and say, ‘When was it really that AGI was created?’ I think it’s going to be about this time, and I think it might be about this model.”
OpenAI is releasing GPT-6 Astra at a critical moment for the company. The ChatGPT maker is trying to rapidly advance its technology and boost sales ahead of a planned initial offering while simultaneously avoiding compromising on safety and security. OpenAI is also facing stiff competition from Anthropic, its most important rival, which is also working on an upcoming IPO.
In a blog post, OpenAI calls GPT-6 Astra the “world’s best computer use model,” claiming it can navigate computers and web browsers on behalf of humans far better than its predecessors. AI companies have historically struggled to make models that can reliably browse websites, fill out forms, and manipulate software tools quickly and accurately enough to replace humans. In tests, OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra was able to book DMV appointments, search for job listings, and apartment hunt faster than the average person could.
The company also claims GPT-6 Astra is also the most safe and aligned AI model OpenAI has ever released. Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI’s chief scientist, told reporters that the company is monitoring GPT-6 Astra’s chain-of-thought—the model’s internal scratchpad it uses to work through problems—to ensure it is deployed safely. However, Pachocki said that making sure advanced AI models don’t cause unintended harm is increasingly a challenge, and may present a bottleneck to further AI progress.
“We kind of take this visibility for granted, and we are seeing that as model capabilities are increasing, monitorability is getting more challenging,” said Pachocki. “We think confidence in monitoring may constrain further development, because we would not accept degradation in our ability to monitor model alignment beyond a certain level. We would withhold scaling until we can regain enough confidence.”
