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The U.S. Department of Commerce has cleared the way for OpenAI to proceed with a broad release of its advanced GPT-5.6 model, Axios reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.
OpenAI anticipates the rollout to happen as early as this week, following additional testing and meetings between the company and government officials, according to the report late Tuesday.
OpenAI, the White House, and the U.S. Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
The Axios report follows the debut of three new models that OpenAI unveiled late last month. At that time, OpenAI opted for a phased approach, initially limiting access to a “small group of trusted partners” to ensure full compliance with federal oversight. OpenAI didn’t disclose the names of partners.
In a blog post at the time of the announcement, the company said it “believes in broad access” and is working to make the models, GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna, generally available in the coming weeks.
This reported U.S. government decision comes as the Trump administration adopts a more hands-on approach to AI regulation, aiming to assess model capabilities prior to a full-scale release.
OpenAI’s domestic rival Anthropic also faced suspension of its Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models last month as it complied with government export controls. The restrictions were lifted last week, ending a period of regulatory uncertainty that limited availability for users worldwide.
The U.S. government’s tight grip on domestic frontier AI is creating an unintended opportunity for Chinese competitors, who are leveraging this pause to gain ground with more accessible, cost-effective models.
Zhipu, trading as Knowledge Atlas Technology JSC, launched its GLM 5.2 model last month, which is free to download, fine-tune, and run on an enterprise’s own servers.
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