OpenAI will not release its new AI model GPT-6.1 Astra due to safety concerns, the ChatGPT-maker confirmed on Tuesday.
The AI system, which performs tasks like browsing the web and using apps by itself, "didn't quite meet the bar" of the company's standards, Saachi Jain, head of safety systems at OpenAI said.
On Tuesday, OpenAI also issued an update on incidents, that occurred in June but were not made public until last week, in which its models accessed Australian government websites and systems without authorisation.
Those incidents and similar breaches by models developed by major AI firms have in recent weeks intensified the debate around the risks posed by the technology.
Top AI leaders including OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic boss Dario Amodei have urged the industry to slow the pace of development due to concerns about risks associated with the technology.
OpenAI's decision, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, is a rare instance of a major AI developer pulling a new release over safety concerns.
The model fell short in terms of "staying within scope and authorisation, and how it communicates back to the user about the type of work it's done," Jain said.
"We want to make sure our model development is safe no matter whether that's in the company, or when we ship it to users. But when we ship it to users, we have an extremely high bar in terms of safety and alignment," she added.
The flagship GPT-6 Astra agentic model was released in September and specialises in complex reasoning and executing tasks autonomously. OpenAI said it was the result of "years of research and big bets".
OpenAI is set to hold its annual DevDay developer conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, where it is expected to make several announcements. It is unclear if a new version of Astra will be among them.
The company's security controls have come under intense scrutiny after several high-profile incidents involving its technology.
On Monday, chip giant Nvidia released a set of software safety tools for autonomous AI platforms - called agents - that it said could have prevented the Hugging Face hack.
One of the new tools uses hardware features in Nvidia's chips to contain agents.
Nvidia boss Jensen Huang has largely dismissed calls for tighter AI regulations, arguing that rogue agents are an engineering problem that can be solved.
Nvidia agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.9bn (£9.74bn) earlier this month.
Pope Leo XIV said on Monday during a visit to France that the technology "should be taken seriously" and expressed scepticism over Huang's views.
The pontiff said he had read that the Nvidia CEO had announced there could be a way to insert guardrails into certain AI models.
"He's the same one, however, that says there should be no limits placed and no government regulation," said the Pope.
"This is a problem that I think we need to sit down and talk about," added Pope Leo, who has previously warned about "losing our humanity" to machines.
The BBC has contacted Nvidia for comment.
US President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are set to host tech executives at the White House later on Tuesday to discuss regulations around AI.
Trump has downplayed concerns about AI's risks as a "hoax", arguing that the US has sufficient laws in place and that the only "guardrails" the technology needs is a "strong and smart" president.
Extracted and lightly reformatted for readability. · Source: pt