The Trump administration has moved to assert national control over advanced artificial intelligence, compelling OpenAI to restrict the release of its new AI model, GPT-5.6 Sol, to only government-approved customers. This action comes as the federal government expands its vetting of AI products, citing cybersecurity risks, and signals a direct intervention into the development and deployment of technologies with profound implications for national infrastructure and public safety.
OpenAI confirmed its new AI product, GPT-5.6 Sol, would be accessible only to customers approved by the Trump administration. The company described this testing period as a temporary step before broader availability in the coming weeks.
The company stated its Sol model is “better at helping people find and fix vulnerabilities” than it is at carrying out cyberattacks and does not cross its own risk threshold. OpenAI acknowledged unforeseen risks, especially if the model is combined with other tools, and cited this uncertainty and the model’s “broader step change in capabilities” as reasons for stronger safeguards and a phased release.
OpenAI has not publicly named any of the approximately 20 customers approved to use the new model.
National Security Imperative
Hours after OpenAI's announcement, Anthropic, a chief rival, confirmed the Trump administration had approved a limited release of its strongest cybersecurity model. This approval came two weeks after the U.S. Commerce Department had effectively banned the model.
Both OpenAI and Anthropic stated their newest models would be available to small groups of trusted partners. Anthropic reported that the government lifted restrictions on its Mythos 5 model, allowing it to be “redeployed to a small group of cyber defenders and infrastructure providers.”
The government's actions against Anthropic began earlier this month, when the company took offline two new AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, days after their unveiling. This compliance followed a Trump directive blocking their use by foreign nationals.
Officials expressed increased concern after Anthropic warned earlier this year that its Mythos model was adept at finding software flaws, which could be weaponized by malicious hackers and threaten critical computer networks around the world.
Earlier in June, Trump signed an executive order on AI oversight, establishing a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to 30 days before public release. The order described developer participation as voluntary, though the framework remains undeveloped.
The White House affirmed Friday its continued collaboration with “frontier AI labs” to address the challenges of scaling the rapidly growing technology.
Elite Tech Resistance
Some of Trump’s allies have attributed the need for heightened government scrutiny to San Francisco-based Anthropic and CEO Dario Amodei. Investor David Sacks, co-leader of Trump’s council of technology and science advisers, stated on a recent podcast that Amodei “spiked the cortisol level, got everyone really worried” by claiming he had created a “cyber weapon called Mythos” during an April visit to Washington. Sacks confirmed “there was some truth to it in terms of the sense that this model had advanced cyber capabilities.”
U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, a Massachusetts Democrat and co-author of a bipartisan AI regulation bill, voiced concern that “the Trump administration is deciding company by company who gets access to the newest AI model. No law. No process. No oversight. Just appointees in Washington deciding who’s in and who’s out.”
OpenAI itself stated, “We don’t believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default.”
Stanford University cybersecurity expert Alex Stamos, chief product officer at AI security company Corridor and former chief security officer at Facebook parent Meta, asserted on a call with reporters earlier this week that “pretty much nobody in the cybersecurity industry believes that there’s any factual basis for this action.” Stamos reviewed an analysis of research on Fable by Amazon, Anthropic’s primary cloud computing backer, and found no risks not present in other publicly available AI models, including those from China. He added, “If the administration is honest about wanting the United States to beat China in this race, then this is about the dumbest thing they could possibly do.”
Future of National Control
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman discussed the model release with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday, part of recent negotiations between AI industry executives and Trump officials. Anthropic also participated in these talks, despite CEO Amodei's more contentious relationship with the Trump administration.
The Pentagon previously designated Anthropic as a national security risk due to its ethical and safety concerns about AI usage in war. Trump himself ordered federal agencies to cease using Claude, Anthropic's chatbot, leading to a lawsuit from Anthropic that is ongoing in federal courts.
Anthropic expressed pleasure at the partial release of Mythos late Friday and pledged to “continue to work with the government to expand access” and make Fable available again to general users. Secretary Lutnick informed Anthropic in a Friday letter that its efforts to address government concerns “yielded significant progress.”
The government’s increased AI oversight adds complexity to exploratory moves by both OpenAI and Anthropic to take their companies public on Wall Street, following SpaceX’s record-setting initial public offering 15 days ago.
Trump has proposed the possibility of the U.S. government owning a stake in leading AI companies, describing a concept where “pieces could be given to the American public, where the American public essentially becomes a partner with the companies.” This proposal suggests a direct nationalization of a portion of the AI sector, aiming to distribute ownership among the citizenry rather than concentrating it within a transnational corporate elite.