OpenAI launches GPT-5.6 family with pricing from $1 input per million tokens

OpenAI's release of GPT-5.6 comes as the company faces growing competition from Anthropic, which has positioned itself as an enterprise-focused alternative and won growing customer support. By launching three model variants at different price points and publishing coding benchmarks that directly compare Sol to Anthropic's Fable 5, OpenAI is making a direct competitive argument: its models deliver measurably better performance at lower cost. The Trump administration had previously sought to restrict the rollout of advanced models over cybersecurity concerns, but OpenAI emphasizes that GPT-5.6 is its strongest cybersecurity model yet and supports defensive security work, suggesting the company has addressed those concerns.

The addition of ChatGPT Work, designed as an enterprise workplace companion, reinforces OpenAI's pivot toward business customers. This follows recent model releases from competitors SpaceXAI and Meta, indicating that major announcements are clustering around this period. With Sol claiming 54% greater token efficiency in coding tasks and broader support for enterprise clerical work, OpenAI is betting that operational efficiency and tailored business tools will differentiate it in an increasingly crowded field.