OpenAI announced a limited preview of GPT-5.6 on June 26, 2026 with three variants: Sol, Terra, and Luna. Initial access is restricted to approximately 20 organizations after OpenAI shared models and release plans with the U.S. government. General release planned for coming weeks.
The staggered release follows President Trump’s June 2, 2026 executive order requiring federal agencies to develop benchmarking and safety assessment processes for frontier AI (30-day deadline: July 2). OpenAI publicly critiqued sovereign gatekeeping in its official announcement, stating it keeps best tools from developers, enterprises, cyber defenders, and global partners.
Sol features max reasoning and ultra subagent modes. GPT-5.6 Sol will launch on Cerebras in July at up to 750 tokens per second. All three models classified High in cybersecurity and biological risk under OpenAI’s Preparedness Framework.