OpenAI launches GPT-5.6 publicly, debuts ChatGPT Work
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- OpenAI received the Trump administration's greenlight for a public rollout of GPT-5.6 roughly two weeks after a "limited preview" had restricted it to government-approved organizations, with CEO Sam Altman calling it "the best model we have ever produced."
- ChatGPT Work, OpenAI's new AI agent combining ChatGPT and Codex for non-technical users, runs on the GPT-5.6 suite (Sol, Terra, Luna) and can generate documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and web apps from connected apps, files, and workflows.
- ChatGPT Work connects to Slack, Gmail, Google Drive, calendars, and CRMs through a "unified plugins directory" and is explicitly positioned as a direct competitor to Anthropic's Claude Cowork.
- GPT-5.6 is immediately available via the Mac and Windows ChatGPT desktop app to all users worldwide — including free ChatGPT users — while mobile and web access starts with Pro, Enterprise, and Edu tiers before reaching Plus and Business over the next few days.
- OpenAI is marketing Sol, the most powerful of the three GPT-5.6 variants, as setting "a new standard for intelligence and efficiency" for coding, cybersecurity, science, and computer use, while pitching the suite as a lower-cost alternative amid industry complaints about AI lab costs being passed to customers.
Why it matters: OpenAI is putting GPT-5.6 and the ChatGPT Work agent into the hands of free desktop users on day one — a direct shot at Anthropic's Claude Cowork and a bet that bundling agent capabilities at no marginal cost can outflank paywalled rivals while the "lower-cost" framing absorbs customer pushback on AI lab pricing.
