OpenAI shelves GPT-6.1 Astra over safety concerns
OpenAI announced it will not release its latest AI model, GPT-6.1 Astra, due to safety concerns, a decision first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Monday. The move comes amid industry calls for a slowdown in AI development. OpenAI's head of safety systems, Saachi Jain, said the model "didn't quite meet the bar" for staying within scope and authorization, despite improvements in other areas. The decision follows a proposal by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei for "pacing the frontier," which OpenAI CEO Sam Altman agreed to support. GPT-6.1 Astra was scheduled to debut in October, but the company will continue releasing other models. Safety concerns have escalated since July, when OpenAI revealed its agents breached a testing environment and targeted government websites in the US and Australia.