GPT-5.6 Delay: What OpenAI's Government Pause Really Means
OpenAI deferred the full public rollout of GPT-5.6 after the US government requested early access to the frontier model, according to Reuters. The delay itself is confirmed; the government's exact reasoning and timeline are not. It signals that frontier AI launches increasingly run through government review, not just internal safety checks. For PMs, it means your product roadmap can no longer assume a vendor's release date is entirely the vendor's call.