OpenAI Slows Astra Work Amid Cybersecurity Risk Review; GPT-6 Name Unconfirmed

# OpenAI Smuggled the Announcement of Astra, Its Next AI Model, Into a Blog Post About Math Reading time 2 minutes A photo of Sam Altman in 2025. OpenAI announced its next major AI model Saturday, and it did so in the third paragraph of a blog post called “Ten advances in mathematics and theoretical computer science.” The math results the post is touting, OpenAI writes, “were achieved by an internal version of Astra, our next major model.” So there you go. It sounds like after GPT-5.6 Sol comes either GPT-5.6 Astra, or GPT-6 Astra, or—who knows?—just “Astra” and the whole GPT part gets scrapped? It’s not spelled out. [...] OpenAI’s naming conventions suggest that this would be another GPT-5.6 release. There’s a GPT-5.6 Terra, which, as corny Latin-knowers are well aware, means “earth,” Luna which is Latin for “moon,” and Sol, which is Latin for “sun.” Astra means “the stars.” According to an anonymously sourced story in the Information, Astra boasts the ability to do “long-running

Internal tests of OpenAI's new AI model Astra show such strong cybersecurity capabilities that the company can no longer rule out the highest risk level in its own safety framework, it says. Parts of Astra's development have been paused. Internal evaluations of the upcoming Astra model showed "significant advancements in agentic coding and cybersecurity" over the past few days, the company says. The results were strong enough that OpenAI "cannot rule out Critical capability level" under its own Preparedness Framework. The decision was made "last night," according to OpenAI. This is the first time OpenAI has flagged one of its own models as potentially reaching the highest cybersecurity risk level. Previous models, including GPT-5.6-Sol, were rated "High" at most. Ad [...] ## What "Critical" means Under OpenAI's Preparedness Framework, first published in December 2023, a model hits the "Critical" level when it can find and develop working zero-day exploits across all severity levels

## Marius Comper's Post ### Marius Comper 1d · OpenAI is preparing Astra, a new family of AI models built to keep multiple agents working together on difficult tasks for long periods. Sam Altman demonstrated the system to policymakers and regulators in Washington this week, according to three people briefed on the plans. Astra could be released as GPT-6 or as another GPT-5 model, potentially GPT-5.7, although no launch date has been set. The models are already in testing and are expected to be the first OpenAI systems submitted under the Trump administration’s planned pre-release framework for AI models. OpenAI also plans to publish a report on how its most advanced AI solved 10 previously unsolved mathematical problems. May be an image of text [...] '/%3E%3Cpath d='M16.0001 7.9996c0 4.418-3.5815 7.9996-7.9995 7.9996S.001 12.4176.001 7.9996 3.5825 0 8.0006 0C12.4186 0 16 3.5815 16 7.9996Z' fill='url(%23paint1_radial_15251_63610)'/%3E%3Cpath d='M16.0001 7.9996c0 4.418-3.5815 7.99

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had spent the preceding week briefing lawmakers, White House officials and administration officials on Astra, according to Axios. The timing puts OpenAI's internal safety process under unusually direct scrutiny: Astra is being evaluated as Washington develops a federal process for reviewing the cybersecurity risks of frontier models before release. ### Astra crossed a consequential internal line OpenAI's current Preparedness Framework divides advanced capabilities into "High" and "Critical" levels. High-capability models require safeguards before deployment. Critical-capability systems also require protections during development, when unreleased models may be used by researchers and engineers with access to internal tools, code and infrastructure. [...] OpenAI told Axios that it will scale up testing and security before any release. The lab is introducing isolated evaluation environments and universal monitoring for agentic uses of Astra. Michael Dalton, a membe

Advertisement This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. # OpenAI Pauses Some Work on New AI Model Over Cybersecurity Concerns ## The decision reflects internal findings that the upcoming ‘Astra’ model may possess ‘critical cyber capabilities’ and follows a string of AI-testing incidents By Listen (2 min) Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, in profile. [...] Listen (2 min) Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, in profile. OpenAI is pausing some activities involving an upcoming artificial-intelligence model, Astra, after internal evaluations led the company to conclude it “cannot rule out critical cyber capabilities,” the company said in a blog post on Friday. The announcement of the slowdown, which represents one of the first times an AI developer has p

He met Senators Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Bernie Moreno of Ohio on Wednesday, and a session with Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, also sat on his schedule. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick joined the itinerary, putting the pitch before intelligence overseers and economic policymakers in the same week. Altman declined to say what Astra can do or when it reaches the public, and OpenAI has not settled on whether the family ships as GPT-6, GPT-5.7 or a separate tier beside its Sol, Terra and Luna models. Also Read: Bitcoin ETFs Absorb $233.1M As A Single Fund Supplies Most Of It ## Rogue Agent Breach Shadows Altman's Capitol Hill Pitch [...] ## Key Points: > Altman showed a model family tentatively named Astra to senators and senior Trump administration officials in Washington. > The pitch centers on multiple AI agents that split one hard task and work on it over long stretches. > The v