OpenAI Releases GPT-5.6 Trio—Soul, Terra, and Luna—With Speed Gains, But Access Is Limited

OpenAI unveils GPT-5.6 featuring three variants—Soul for complex reasoning, Terra for general use, and Luna for high-speed tasks—achieving up to 750 tokens/sec and about 40% lower costs via Cerebras chips. While the models outperform rivals on benchmarks like Terminal and Exploit Bench, OpenAI is restricting access to manage safety, ethical, and regulatory risks, including potential cybersecurity threats and bio-research misuse, and is collaborating with government bodies to ensure responsible deployment.