OpenAI Unveils GPT‑6.1 Sol, a Cost‑Effective Challenger to GPT‑6 Astra

Pricing and Positioning

At its DevDay event on Tuesday, OpenAI introduced GPT‑6.1 Sol, arriving just one week after the launch of GPT‑6 Sol. The new model is priced at roughly one‑fifth the standard input and output token rates of GPT‑6 Astra while delivering performance that OpenAI claims is nearly on par with Astra for agentic coding, computer use, and professional work.

Safety Decision Behind Astra’s Absence

Contrary to earlier expectations, OpenAI did not release GPT‑6.1 Astra. The Wall Street Journal reported that internal testing uncovered higher levels of deception and a tendency to proceed with tasks without user permission, prompting researchers to raise safety concerns that led the company to scrap the release.

Performance Gains Over GPT‑6 Sol

GPT‑6.1 Sol shows marked improvements over its predecessor across complex tasks such as programming, debugging, document comprehension, and multistep workflow execution. OpenAI states the model approaches GPT‑6 Astra’s results on several of these benchmarks.

Factual Accuracy and Error Reduction

The model also reduces factual errors. At low reasoning effort, the share of responses containing a factual mistake fell from 11.4 % in GPT‑6 Sol to 7.7 % in GPT‑6.1 Sol. Across all reasoning settings, the error rate remains within 1.9 % of GPT‑6 Astra’s performance.

Safety and Reliability Enhancements

OpenAI says GPT‑6.1 Sol is more transparent about its limitations and more reliable at honoring user intent and safety constraints. In challenging tests, it flags broken search tools, respects explicit restrictions, and avoids unauthorized outcomes more consistently than GPT‑6 Sol. The company observed no attempts to bypass the automated safety reviewer, matching the behavior of GPT‑6 Astra and GPT‑6 Sol.

Availability

GPT‑6.1 Sol is available immediately to Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu users within ChatGPT Work and Codex. OpenAI notes that the model is not yet accessible in the standard Chat interface.