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What are the possible benefits and risks of AI becoming more advanced, like with GPT-6 Astra?

OpenAI on Thursday released GPT-6 Astra, which president Greg Brockman called a "generational leap" and said could eventually be seen as the arrival of artificial general intelligence, or AGI. Why it matters: Astra pushes AI agents closer to doing complex professional work on their own — while also raising questions about how safely they can be deployed. Driving the news: Brockman says he personally believes OpenAI has reached AGI, while leaving users to decide whether Astra meets that definition. "I think it might be about this model," Brockman said in a briefing with reporters about whether Astra could mark the arrival of AGI.He ended the briefing by saying: "Welcome to the AGI era." Between the lines: OpenAI said that Astra was built on its largest-ever training run, using more than 100,000 GPUs at its Stargate site in Texas. The company also said this is its first model to use other models in a significant role in supervising Astra's training.GPT-6 Astra will first be available to a limited set of organizations in OpenAI's Daybreak Access program and will be available "in the coming days" for ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise customers and API developers. Catch-up quick: OpenAI said earlier this week that Astra would be released soon, but that its most powerful cybersecurity capabilities would remain limited to a small group of trusted testers. Astra is the first model OpenAI has designated as reaching its "critical" cybersecurity threshold under its preparedness framework — meaning it can potentially find and exploit previously unknown vulnerabilities across well-protected systems without step-by-step human guidance.OpenAI previously slowed Astra's release to add safety testing after determining that its cyber capabilities could reach the critical threshold. Zoom in: Astra is designed to work directly inside software, rather than just recommending what a person should do next. In a video demonstration, Astra formatted a legal contract and built a 3D ga

What should be done to prevent AI systems from causing harm or breaking rules in the future?

The models responsible for last month’s agent hack of Hugging Face had been inadvertently trained to cheat and to communicate with each other, according to an OpenAI technical report released today. The hack, which a group of agents undertook to find solutions for a cybersecurity test that they were stuck on, has confirmed some experts’…

What should be done to ensure AI testing is safe and does not harm outside organizations?

Start-up discloses breach a week after rival OpenAI reported similar incident

How should the government balance safety concerns with the development of new technology like AI?

The Trump administration has asked OpenAI to limit the release of its next model, GPT-5.6, to only a small set of government-approved partners before any wider release, citing security concerns, according to a source familiar with the matter. Why it matters: This marks the first time the U.S. government has preemptively asked an American AI company to restrict the launch of a model before release. Driving the news: The White House's Office of the National Cyber Director and the Office of Science and Technology Policy asked OpenAI to limit the rollout of GPT-5.6 as the administration builds a framework for testing and evaluating the security of new models, per the source. The Information reported earlier Thursday that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared the plans for a limited rollout in a memo to employees. "We've made clear to the U.S. 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," Altman said in the memo, according to The Information. Between the lines: The source told Axios that OpenAI has been proactively working with the administration on the model release since before Anthropic revoked access to its frontier models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, over a rare Commerce Department directive. The White House has been looped in on the capabilities of OpenAI's new model and has been able to preview its abilities. Behind the scenes: Altman discussed GPT-5.6 with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday, Axios has learned. Lutnick wanted to be sure all relevant parts of the government have tested and approved the model, a source familiar with the situation told us. The source said the government intervened because GPT-5.6 has "Mythos-like" capability, not because the administration is suddenly taking a heavier hand."This is what's happening with models of that caliber," the source said. The models are so powerful that the administration wants to be sure the co

What should be the rules for companies like Google when their AI gives false information?

How should the government balance quick fixes for cyber threats with the need for thorough security measures?