Commerce clears OpenAI GPT-5.6 for broad release
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- Commerce Department cleared OpenAI's GPT-5.6 for broad launch, with OpenAI expecting a wide release this week after weeks of restricted access.
- Center for AI Standards and Innovation conducted the testing, with OpenAI sending technical experts who remained in D.C. to address potential government questions.
- Trump administration had pushed OpenAI last month to stagger GPT-5.6's release, limiting initial access to government-approved entities — a rollout OpenAI said was not its preferred approach.
- OpenAI noted that AI firms and government are operating before more concrete model-release standards — called for in Trump's latest AI executive order — have been finalized.
- Anthropic saw its Mythos and Fable models effectively withdrawn from foreign markets after a June Commerce ban; the Fable restriction was lifted last week, with customer access restored one day later.
Why it matters: The clearance resolves a regulatory friction point for OpenAI, ending a staggered rollout it publicly said was not its preferred path. Anthropic's Mythos remains banned for foreign access after June, meaning the two leading U.S. AI labs are operating under sharply different export conditions as broader model-release standards are still being drafted.
