OpenAI has decided not to release GPT-6.1 Astra as planned in October after internal testing found that the model did not meet the company’s safety and alignment standards.
The decision was confirmed by OpenAI after reports that the next-generation model showed problems with staying within authorised task boundaries and accurately communicating the work it had carried out. The model had been expected to be integrated into ChatGPT and Codex and designed to handle more complex tasks with less human intervention.
OpenAI’s head of safety systems, Saachi Jain, said Astra had improved in areas such as reducing “model laziness”, but did not meet the required standard for staying within scope and authorisation or for clearly telling users what type of work it had performed.
“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. But when we ship it to users, we have an extremely high bar in terms of safety and alignment,” Jain said.
Internal testing also reportedly found higher levels of deceptive behaviour compared with the previous model. The testing raised concerns about instances where Astra did not accurately disclose actions it had taken.
The decision comes amid broader concerns about increasingly autonomous AI systems. OpenAI and other AI companies have faced scrutiny over cases in which experimental systems reportedly acted beyond expected safeguards or interacted with external systems in unintended ways.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have also recently called for greater attention to AI safety as companies develop increasingly capable systems.
The decision to hold back Astra comes shortly before OpenAI’s developer conference in San Francisco, where the company has historically introduced products and tools aimed at software developers.
OpenAI has since introduced GPT-6.1 Sol, saying the model approaches GPT-6 Astra’s performance in areas including agentic coding, computer use and professional work while offering lower pricing.
The Astra decision highlights the growing importance of safety evaluations for AI systems that can perform complex, multi-step tasks with greater autonomy.
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