The White House has requested OpenAI limit the release of its upcoming GPT 5.6 model to a small number of government-approved partners because of its advanced capabilities, a source familiar with the situation told CNN.
The request comes after the administration placed an export control order on Anthropic, leading to the AI company pulling its latest most advanced models Mythos and Fable. Those models raised fears in Washington and on Wall Street over their advanced cybersecurity capabilities, which some worry could lead to unprecedented safety risks.
OpenAI and the administration view OpenAI’s latest model as “on par” with Mythos, according to the source. OpenAI agreed to limit the model’s release as a path toward launching it publicly during a “strange moment” with no true federal regulatory framework in place for new AI models.
The Information, which first reported the Trump administration’s request, cited a memo OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent to the company on Thursday, in which he said the government is approving access “customer by customer.”
“We’ve made clear to the U.S. government that this is not our preferred long term model, and will work with them and others in industry to achieve a more sustainable approach for future releases,” Altman said in the memo, according to The Information.
