OpenAI will reportedly stagger the release of its upcoming GPT-5.6 model to a small number of government-approved partners, according to The Information. The move comes after the Trump administration requested a limited rollout over national security concerns surrounding advanced AI systems.
The publication said it obtained an internal memo from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, which states that the government will be “approving access customer by customer during this preview period.” If the preview proceeds as planned, OpenAI hopes to make GPT-5.6 more widely available at a later date.
Altman reportedly told employees in the memo, “We’ve made clear to the US 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.” The Information also reported that officials from the Office of the National Cyber Director, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick were involved in discussions surrounding the limited rollout. At the time of writing, neither OpenAI nor the White House had publicly commented on the reported arrangement.
If the report proves to be accurate, it would mark a significant shift from OpenAI’s usual release strategy. The company typically makes its latest AI models available to ChatGPT users and developers soon after launch. In contrast, GPT-5.6 could be one of the first frontier AI models to undergo a government-supervised preview before becoming publicly accessible.
A few weeks earlier, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order introducing a voluntary review framework for advanced AI models. A White House official also told CNN that the administration was continuing to work with frontier AI labs to develop shared approaches for addressing the challenges of scaling the technology.
The policy has already affected other AI companies. Anthropic, for example, had to restrict access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models shortly after their release. Unlike GPT-5.6’s reported rollout, Anthropic’s restrictions reportedly barred foreign nationals from accessing the new models, regardless of whether they were located inside or outside the US.
