Commerce Department

OpenAI has received US government clearance to broadly release GPT-5.6 after weeks of testing by the Commerce Department's Center for AI Standards and Innovation. The model had been restricted to approximately 20 government-approved partners under Washington's new frontier AI oversight regime.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has approved OpenAI for a broad launch of GPT-5.6 this week, following testing by the Center for AI Standards and Innovation. The model was previously restricted to government-approved entities since June, mirroring earlier restrictions placed on Anthropic's models.