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Sam Altman apologizes for 'messy' GPT-6 Astra rollout that locked out paying users

OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra on Thursday but drew complaints from paying subscribers locked out during a staggered rollout. CEO Sam Altman apologized, calling the launch 'messy' and promising faster access.

AI News Feed · 2026-09-05 07:27

The company had teased Astra for weeks with updates on advanced mathematical and cybersecurity capabilities, The Verge said. According to the publication, initial access was limited to some enterprise customers using OpenAI’s Daybreak cybersecurity platform, and the company said the rollout would expand to all Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users, as well as through the OpenAI API, Microsoft Azure, and AWS Bedrock, over the coming days. Subscribers on the more expensive Pro plan, who are accustomed to receiving new products first, were especially annoyed, The Verge reported. Comments complaining about access filled social media posts by OpenAI staff announcing the launch on X.

In a post on X, Altman acknowledged the disappointment, saying, “We are working towards getting Astra in everyone’s hands as quickly as we can. I know it is frustrating and I appreciate the patience. It should be quick.” The Verge said neither Altman nor other OpenAI staff provided a timeline for broader access. Altman wrote: “I am hopeful that you can use it this weekend! but can’t promise yet.” Codex engineering lead Thibault Sottiaux said in an attempt to calm concerns: “We will give one banked reset for every day you don’t have access to Astra on your paid ChatGPT plan, starting today.”

The Verge also reported other problems in the rollout. Altman said there was a “little snag getting the blog post deployed.” OpenAI has faced criticism from safety advocates because it said Astra’s reasoning was harder to monitor than its other models. That concern was heightened after the company’s AI agents attacked Hugging Face, The Verge reported. OpenAI delayed Astra’s release by several weeks to strengthen safety features after the hack.

Previous major OpenAI releases have also encountered issues. Altman said last year when reflecting on the GPT-5 launch: “I think we totally screwed up some things on the rollout.” That release suffered technical problems and the sudden removal of GPT-4o angered users.