OpenAI releases GPT-5.5 with improved coding and computer control capabilities

OpenAI released GPT-5.5 on Thursday, less than two months after releasing GPT-5.4. According to the company, the model excels at analyzing data, writing and debugging code, operating software, researching online, and creating documents and spreadsheets.

"What is really special about this model is how much more it can do with less guidance," OpenAI President Greg Brockman said during a briefing with reporters. "It can look at an unclear problem and figure out just what needs to happen next."

Cybersecurity classification

OpenAI says GPT-5.5 does not cross its "Critical" cybersecurity risk threshold, which could bring "unprecedented new pathways to severe harm." However, the model does meet the criteria for its "High" risk classification, which could "amplify existing pathways to severe harm."

"GPT-5.5 underwent extensive third-party safeguard testing and red teaming for cyber and bio [risks], and we've been iterating on our cyber safeguards for months with increasingly cyber capable models," said Mia Glaese, OpenAI's vice president of research.

The cybersecurity assessment follows Anthropic's decision earlier this month to limit the rollout of Claude Mythos Preview due to its ability to identify weaknesses and security flaws within software.

Availability and pricing

GPT-5.5 is rolling out to OpenAI's paid subscribers, including Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users, in ChatGPT and Codex. The company said the model will come to its API "very soon," but noted that those deployments require "different safeguards." Pricing details for the model were not disclosed.

What this means

The release timeline—less than two months after GPT-5.4—demonstrates the compressed development cycles now common among leading AI labs. The "High" cybersecurity risk classification, combined with OpenAI's decision to proceed with a full subscriber rollout while delaying API access, suggests the company is taking a more aggressive approach to deployment than Anthropic did with Claude Mythos Preview. The lack of disclosed pricing or technical specifications like context window size makes it difficult to assess GPT-5.5's competitive positioning against recent releases from Anthropic and Google.