OpenAI Gives Free ChatGPT Unlimited GPT-5.6 Luna
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- OpenAI made GPT-5.6 Luna the default model for free ChatGPT users and removed text-chat usage limits, with unlimited chats rolling out the day after the announcement
- GPT-5.6 Sol now powers all chats for Plus and Pro users; OpenAI says it produced 68% fewer factual errors than GPT-5.5 Instant in high-stakes finance, medicine, and law evaluations
- Plus and Pro users received a new slider to adjust reasoning effort per response, and Free and Go users gained access to the "Think" button for harder questions
- ChatGPT reached 1 billion weekly active users, according to a cited tweet by Mehul Mohan — a milestone not surfaced in the headline coverage
- OpenAI framed the rollout as making "better intelligence easier to access" across tiers, with paid users getting unified Instant and deep-reasoning experiences
- A cited observer described GPT-5.6 Luna as "approximately Opus 4.6 level intelligence for free," capturing the competitive pressure this places on rival AI services
Why it matters: OpenAI is effectively commoditizing frontier AI reasoning for its billion-plus weekly users by removing the free-tier paywall on GPT-5.6 Luna text chats. The 68% factual-error reduction OpenAI claims for GPT-5.6 Sol also tightens the paid tier's value proposition against competitors still gating similar capabilities behind subscriptions.
