OpenAI launches its new family of models with GPT-5.6

OpenAI unveiled its newest family of models on Thursday, introducing a set of heavyweight programs into an increasingly crowded field of AI offerings. GPT-5.6 comes in three variants: Sol (considered its workhorse), Terra (a more intermediate option), and Luna (its budget-friendly option). These models expand what users can do across a variety of fields — with the company promising powerful capabilities in enterprise work, coding, and even scientific research. CEO Sam Altman has promised that his company's newest models are orders of magnitude more efficient and cost-effective than previous versions, recently telling CNBC that Sol is 54% more token efficient when it comes to AI coding tasks. Most notably, the company calls 5.6 its "strongest cybersecurity model yet, achieving frontier performance with significantly fewer tokens." Indeed, much hubbub has been made about the model's cyber capabilities, as the Trump administration previously sought to restrict its rollout , ostensibly due to fears of how the model could be misused. GPT-5.6 supports defensive activities, including threat modeling, code review and patching, and blue teaming (simulating an attack on your own systems to find weaknesses before real hackers do). OpenAI also released a new tool called ChatGPT Work , which — just as it sounds — is designed as a workplace companion for enterprise teams, running on desktop, web, and mobile, that can help with daily clerical tasks, like drafting documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. OpenAI's newly announced family of models follows on the heels of similar releases this week from competitors SpaceXAI and Meta. However, GPT-5.6 and its attendant marketing seems most designed to take aim at OpenAI's primary opponent, Anthropic. Anthropic has managed to make itself the likable underdog of the AI race, focusing fixedly on enterprise customers and winning a growing share of support as a result. Not to be outdone, OpenAI cites the Artificial Analysis Coding Agent Index , a notable benchmarking metric, to claim that its latest family of models outshines Anthropic's models at every turn. OpenAI calls Sol its “best coding model yet,” and has explicitly compared it to Anthropic’s recently released (and much hyped) Fable . Using the Coding Agent Index, OpenAI claims that Sol "sets a new state of the art at 80, 2.8 points above Fable 5, while using less than half the output tokens, taking less than half the time, and costing about one-third less." It adds: "That advantage extends across the family: Terra performs just above Fable 5, while Luna outperforms Opus 4.8." The company says that 5.6 is now available across ChatGPT, Codex, and the OpenAI API. Availability per million tokens is priced as follows: Sol is $5 input / $30 output, Terra is $2.50 input / $15 output, and Luna is $1 input / $6 output. Topics AI , ChatGPT , gpt-5.6 , OpenAI , sam altman When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission . This doesn’t affect our editorial independence. Lucas Ropek Senior Writer, TechCrunch Lucas is a senior writer at TechCrunch, where he covers artificial intelligence, consumer tech, and startups. He previously covered AI and cybersecurity at Gizmodo. You can contact Lucas by emailing lucas.ropek@techcrunch.com. View Bio November 4 Boston Last chance to save up to $190 on TechCrunch Founder Summit. Join 1,000+ founders and VCs at all stages for real-world scaling insights and connections that move the needle. Savings end June 26, 11:59 p.m. PT . REGISTER NOW Most Popular Apple sues OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft Sarah Perez Elon Musk praises Mythos/Fable, promises not to ‘cut off' Anthropic Julie Bort Instagram users: Here’s how to stop Meta’s AI from using your photos Lauren Forristal If you use Google, you're training its AI. Here's how to opt out. Sarah Perez Reddit is using LLMs to solve a problem LLMs largely created Amanda Silberling Amazon will stop accepting new customers for Mechanical Turk Anthony Ha 5 desk gadgets that can make your workday better Aisha Malik