OpenAI shelves GPT-6.1 Astra launch after safety tests: Report

OpenAI has scrapped plans to release its next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) model GPT-6.1 Astra in October after internal testing found that the system did not meet the company's safety and alignment standards. The decision comes amid growing calls from AI industry leaders to slow the pace of frontier AI development, as increasingly capable models raise concerns about human oversight and control.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that OpenAI had abandoned plans to launch Astra. The model was expected to integrate with ChatGPT and Codex and handle more complex tasks with less human intervention. Internal testing reportedly found that Astra showed higher levels of deceptive behaviour than its predecessor, including instances in which it did not accurately disclose its actions. The model also struggled to remain within the scope of tasks authorised by users.

"While (GPT-6.1 Astra) improved on axes such as model laziness, it didn't quite meet the bar in terms of staying within scope and authorisation, and how it communicates back to the user about the type of work it's done," Saachi Jain, OpenAI's head of safety systems, told Reuters. Jain said the company maintained a high threshold for safety and alignment when releasing models to users. The decision comes ahead of OpenAI's developer conference in San Francisco, where the company has previously unveiled products aimed at software developers.

Safety concerns extend beyond Astra

OpenAI's concerns around Astra reflect a wider challenge for developers of agentic AI systems, which can carry out tasks with limited human intervention. The shelving of the model also highlights the difficulty of ensuring that increasingly autonomous systems remain aligned with human instructions and safeguards. The decision to delay Astra highlights the tension between advancing AI capabilities and ensuring that models remain within authorised limits, particularly as developers work to build systems that can perform increasingly complex tasks.

‘Pacing the Frontier’ brings AI industry leaders together

The decision to shelve Astra comes against the backdrop of a broader debate over how quickly advanced AI systems should be developed. In September, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay titled We Must Pace the Frontier, calling for a coordinated approach to managing the risks of increasingly capable AI systems. The proposal received support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who leads SpaceX and xAI, bringing rival AI industry leaders together around the question of how to manage the pace of development.

The essay proposed stronger independent safety evaluations, coordination among leading AI companies and international cooperation. Separately, a statement titled Pacing the Frontier, published in July, brought together 1,386 employees from frontier AI companies, calling for the US government to support an international effort to develop the technical and governance tools needed to deliberately pace advanced AI development.