OpenAI scraps release of new model over safety concerns

San Jose, California—OpenAI has scrapped the release of a new artificial intelligence (AI) model over safety concerns. Saachi Jain, head of safety systems at the ChatGPT developer, told British broadcaster BBC that the new GPT-6.1 Astra model "didn't quite meet the bar" of the company's standards. The system was not always honest with users about what actions it had or had not taken, she explained, adding that it in some cases acted on its own initiative without obtaining user permission. OpenAI's advanced models have repeatedly made negative headlines across the world in recent weeks, prompting serious concern about safety and calls for government regulation. It emerged at the weekend that the company has suspended training of its most powerful AI models following a new incident, which saw one manage to obtain responses from an external chatbot during a test despite not being supposed to have internet access. The software found and exploited a flaw in the network settings, OpenAI said in a blog post. Training will only resume once the company is confident the issue has been fixed, it s