OpenAI Rolls Out GPT-5.6 Family, Taking Direct Aim at Rivals in Enterprise AI

OpenAI dropped its latest model family on Thursday, introducing GPT-5.6 in three distinct tiers designed to cover everything from heavy-duty coding to everyday office tasks. The lineup includes Sol, pitched as the workhorse; Terra, a mid-range option; and Luna, the budget-friendly choice. CEO Sam Altman told CNBC the new models are dramatically more efficient than their predecessors, with Sol boasting a 54% improvement in token efficiency for AI coding jobs.

The company is making a big push in cybersecurity, calling GPT-5.6 its strongest model yet for defensive operations like threat modeling, code review, and blue teaming - simulating attacks to expose vulnerabilities before real hackers can exploit them. The Trump administration had previously tried to restrict the rollout over misuse concerns, but OpenAI is now leaning into the security angle. Alongside the models, the company released ChatGPT Work, a workplace tool for drafting documents, spreadsheets, and presentations across desktop, web, and mobile.

OpenAI is clearly gunning for Anthropic, the underdog that has been winning enterprise clients. Citing the Artificial Analysis Coding Agent Index, OpenAI claims Sol outpaces Anthropic's Fable by 2.8 points - scoring 80 - while using fewer than half the output tokens, taking less than half the time, and costing about a third less. Terra also edges out Fable, and Luna beats Anthropic's Opus 4.8. The GPT-5.6 family is available now via ChatGPT, Codex, and the OpenAI API, with pricing ranging from $1 to $5 per million input tokens and $6 to $30 for output.

Source: TechCrunch