OpenAI releases GPT-5.6 and ChatGPT Work tool

Ah, another Thursday, another GPT release. OpenAI has graced us with GPT-5.6, which apparently comes in *three* flavours — because one model wasn't enough to confuse everyone. There's a 'Sol' variant with an 'ultra' mode, which sounds like a gym membership tier rather than a serious AI capability. Sam Altman, looking as earnest as ever, told CNBC that Sol is 54% more token efficient on agentic coding tasks, which is a wonderfully specific number that anyone outside the lab will struggle to verify.

The U.S. government asked for the rollout to be staggered — presumably so they could pretend to assess the risk before the floodgates open. How quaint. The same administration that couldn't regulate social media for a decade now gets a courtesy heads-up from a company that has already deployed models into millions of hands. It's like asking a burglar to announce his arrival by knocking politely.

The timing is impeccable: just as the AI safety community is wringing its hands over agents and tool use, here comes a model designed specifically for 'agentic coding tasks.' Because what the world really needs is more autonomous code that can perpetuate its own bugs without human intervention. But hey, it's 54% more efficient — whatever that means when the baseline is already unmonitored. Enjoy your ultra-mode future.