finance Apr 23, 2026

OpenAI announces GPT-5.5, its latest artificial intelligence model

C

CNBC Finance

3 min read
Key Points
  • OpenAI announced GPT-5.5, its latest AI model that is better at coding, using computers and pursuing deeper research capabilities.
  • The launch comes just weeks after Anthropic unveiled Claude Mythos Preview, its new model with advanced cybersecurity capabilties.
  • GPT-5.5 is rolling out to OpenAI's paid subscribers, including its Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise users, in ChatGPT and Codex.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during a media tour of a Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, Sept. 23, 2025.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

OpenAI on Thursday announced its latest artificial intelligence model, GPT-5.5, which the company says is better at coding, using computers and pursuing deeper research capabilities.

The launch comes less than two months after OpenAI released GPT 5.4, the latest sign of the breakneck pace of development that's driving the AI sector.

"What is really special about this model is how much more it can do with less guidance," OpenAI President Greg Brockman said during a briefing with reporters on Thursday. "It can look at an unclear problem and figure out just what needs to happen next. It really, to me, feels like it's setting the foundation for how we're going to use computers, how we're going to do computer work going forward."

OpenAI is racing to keep up with rivals including Google and Anthropic, whose latest model, Claude Mythos Preview, has captivated Wall Street.

OpenAI said GPT-5.5 excels at analyzing data, writing and debugging code, operating software, researching online and creating documents and spreadsheets. The company added that the model does not cross its "Critical" cybersecurity risk threshold, which could bring "unprecedented new pathways to severe harm," but it does meet the criteria for its "High" risk classification, which could "amplify existing pathways to severe harm."

"GPT-5.5 underwent extensive third-party safeguard testing and red teaming for cyber and bio [risks], and we've been iterating on our cyber safeguards for months with increasingly cyber capable models," Mia Glaese, OpenAI's vice president of research, said during the briefing on Thursday.

The cybersecurity risks presented by AI have been top of mind for tech executives and government officials since Anthropic announced its Mythos model earlier this month. The company decided to limit Mythos' rollout because of its ability to identifying weaknesses and security flaws within software.

GPT-5.5 is rolling out to OpenAI's paid subscribers, including its Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users, in ChatGPT and its coding assistant Codex on Thursday. The company said the model will come to its application programming interface "very soon," but that those deployments require "different safeguards."

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