OpenAI is developing a new AI model called ‘Garlic’ to compete with Google Gemini 3 and Anthropic Opus 4.5. The model is designed to excel in advanced reasoning and coding tasks. Early internal tests indicate that Garlic is performing strongly and could launch as GPT-5.2 or GPT-5.5 by early 2026. This move comes amid intense competition in the AI space, as companies race to develop the most powerful and efficient language models.
According to sources, OpenAI’s Chief Research Officer Mark Chen said Garlic has shown “strong performance” across multiple benchmarks, particularly in areas where Google and Anthropic currently lead. CEO, Sam Altman reportedly declared a “code red” to improve ChatGPT and regain OpenAI’s lead in AI development. Altman told staff that Garlic is already “ahead” of Gemini 3 in internal evaluations. The company is reportedly fast-tracking its release to ensure an early 2026 rollout.
Garlic builds on lessons from an earlier in-house model called Shallotpeat. While Shallotpeat aimed to challenge Gemini 3, Garlic includes bug fixes and improvements, especially in the pretraining stage. This stage trains the model to recognize relationships across massive datasets. Chen explained that Garlic represents a leap in pretraining efficiency, allowing a smaller model to hold the same knowledge previously requiring a much larger system. This means Garlic could deliver GPT-4.5-level performance at lower cost and faster speed, offering a potential advantage over competitors.
The model has already surpassed OpenAI’s previous pretraining results and resolved key technical issues seen in GPT-4.5. Garlic will undergo post-training with specialized datasets, safety testing and evaluations before launch. Its success has also prompted OpenAI to start work on an even more advanced successor model. If Garlic meets expectations, it could shift the balance of power in the AI race, intensifying competition among OpenAI, Google and Anthropic for the next generation of reasoning models.
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