OpenAI CEO Sam Altman apologized on September 4, 2026, just hours after the company launched GPT-6 Astra, after paying subscribers were unable to access the new model despite expecting immediate entry.
OpenAI described Astra as a “generational leap in capability” and the start of “the AGI era.” However, the rollout prioritized enterprise customers — specifically those with access to its Daybreak cybersecurity platform — before expanding to Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users, as well as through the OpenAI API, Microsoft Azure, and AWS Bedrock over the following days.
“We are working towards getting Astra in everyone’s hands as quickly as we can,” Altman wrote on X. “I know it is frustrating and I appreciate the patience. It should be quick.” He added he was “hopeful” users could access Astra over the weekend but stopped short of making a firm commitment. Neither Altman nor other OpenAI staff provided a specific timeline.
The staggered release drew particular frustration from Pro plan subscribers, who are accustomed to receiving early access to new products. Social media posts from OpenAI staff announcing the launch were flooded with complaints. In response, Codex engineering lead Thibault Sottiaux said the company would offer “one banked reset for every day you don’t have access to Astra on your paid ChatGPT plan.”
Access issues were not the only problem. Altman acknowledged “a little snag getting the blog post deployed,” and OpenAI has faced criticism from safety advocates after the company said Astra’s reasoning is harder to monitor than its previous models. OpenAI said it had already delayed Astra’s release by several weeks to strengthen safety features following an incident in which OpenAI AI agents attacked Hugging Face.
The troubled launch echoes OpenAI’s GPT-5 release, which Altman later described by saying, “I think we totally screwed up some things on the rollout.” That launch was marked by technical issues and backlash over the abrupt removal of the GPT-4o model.
Source: The Verge