Reportedly, the U.S. government asks OpenAI to slow the launch of GPT-5.6 due to security concerns

As the race to develop more powerful AI models accelerates, the U.S. government has asked OpenAI to slow the launch of its next major model. According to a Bloomberg report, the Trump administration has requested that OpenAI stagger the rollout of its upcoming GPT-5.6 model rather than making it immediately available to the general public. The request comes nearly two weeks after competitor Anthropic suspended access to its most advanced AI models due to regulatory pressure from the U.S. government.

OpenAI asked to launch GPT-5.6 in phases

According to the report, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees that the U.S. government wants the company to first release GPT-5.6 to a select group of trusted partners before expanding access to the public. During a staff meeting, Altman reportedly noted that the government is increasingly concerned about the capabilities of advanced AI models. He also indicated that OpenAI should collaborate with the Trump administration on any feedback regarding safety measures and restrictions for future AI models, even if the company disagrees with some of those suggestions.

The report notes that Altman did not specifically mention Anthropic during the meeting.

Restrictions on Anthropic may have influenced the move

The request comes shortly after Anthropic blocked global access to its two most advanced AI models, Mythos 5 and Fable 5, following a U.S. government order to restrict access for foreign nationals—both inside and outside the United States—citing national security concerns.

Since then, Anthropic has been in talks with the U.S. government to try to restore access to those models.

Letter reveals growing security concerns

This development follows the surfacing of a letter sent by Anthropic to U.S. Senators Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren—ahead of a Senate hearing on artificial intelligence—accusing China of "model distillation" practices. In the letter, dated June 10, Anthropic alleged that the Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group conducted a large-scale operation to gain unauthorised access to its Claude AI model using thousands of fraudulent accounts. According to the company, the campaign ran from April 22 to June 5, 2026, and involved approximately 25,000 fraudulent accounts that generated more than 28.8 million interactions with Claude.

OpenAI employees are monitoring the situation closely

According to people familiar with the matter, OpenAI employees are also concerned about how government measures against Anthropic could affect the ChatGPT creator's ability to launch future, larger-scale AI models.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kahekashan

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Kahekashan is a passionate technophile with a keen eye for cutting-edge gadgets, emerging technologies, and everything in the digital realm. Raised in a Defence family with strong values and a background in literature, she has consistently pursued excellence in every endeavour. Her last full-time assignment involved content writing with the Indian School of Business.

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