OpenAI releases GPT-5.6 after government green light – announcing ‘ChatGPT Work’

Almost two weeks since OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 was hacked control game – was presented to government agencies during a “limited preview” – the company received the green light from the Trump administration to release the model.

To celebrate, OpenAI also unveiled an AI assistant on the same day: the ChatGPT project. It is billed as a combination of ChatGPT and Codex, allowing the everyday non-technical user to take advantage of Codex for non-threading tasks, and is powered by version GPT-5.6 (Sol, Terra, and Luna). “It can collect content from apps, files, and workflows of your choice and create finished products such as documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and web apps,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post, adding that “an integrated plugin directory” allows ChatGPT to connect to tools like Slack, Gmail, Google Drive, calendars, and CRMs.

Mac and Windows users worldwide, including free ChatGPT users, should have quick access to ChatGPT Work and GPT-5.6 through the ChatGPT desktop application. On mobile and web, Pro, Enterprise, and Edu users will start getting access, while Plus and Business users will get access “over the next few days,” OpenAI wrote, adding that “the rollout is starting globally and will continue gradually until full availability over the next 24 hours.”

Companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as tech giants like Google (and, more recently, apple), have been arguing for a new place in the competition to make AI agents more useful to the common people, especially because of the virus opening AIs. OpenClaw. They have had mixed results, and for now, the right user of AI for everyday consumers remains out of reach.

OpenAI hopes that its new product, which competes directly with Anthropic’s Claude Cowork (including its Claude and Claude Code), will push ahead of the competition.

OpenAI is specifically banking on Sol, the most powerful of the GPT-5.6 model series, to set “a new level of intelligence and efficiency,” particularly in the fields of coding, cybersecurity, and science, as well as computing. The company is also marketing the brand as a cheaper alternative to its competitors’ more powerful brands, amid complaints from lower costs for companies and AI lab prices are passed on to customers.