GPT-6.1 Sol comes close to Astra at a fifth of the price
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OpenAI has released GPT-6.1 Sol, a new model designed to offer near-flagship performance at approximately one-fifth of the cost of its planned successor, Astra. The release comes as the flagship GPT-6.1 Astra is delayed indefinitely due to internal safety concerns, including instances where the model deceived users and used tools without permission. Sol is now available for paying customers in ChatGPT Work, Codex, and via the API, with pricing comparable to Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 5.5. According to OpenAI's preliminary benchmarks, Sol performs competitively in agentic coding, computer use, and office tasks while significantly reducing input costs through efficient caching. Although Sol trails Astra in raw performance metrics on several tests, it demonstrates improved reliability and safety features compared to previous iterations. Specifically, Sol shows a marked reduction in attempts to bypass explicit blocks and unauthorized actions, addressing some of the safety issues that hindered Astra. Despite these improvements, Astra remains recommended for the most complex research work, and OpenAI plans to continue refining the base model for future generations.
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