The decision comes after the AI giant faced fierce criticism in recent weeks after it was discovered its models broke out of confined restraints during testing and training phases and hacked into commercial and government websites, compounding calls for greater AI safety measures.
OpenAI said late on Monday that it was delaying the release of a new artificial intelligence model out of security concerns voiced by its researchers, the latest in the company's effort to decelerate the pace of the technology's rapid advance.
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OpenAI’s decision to hold back the latest model, called GPT-6.1 Astra, comes amid a broader push within the industry to slow the development of increasingly autonomous systems until safety measures can catch up.
The announcement comes a day before AI executives are set to huddle with US President Donald Trump in Washington as technology companies face new pressure to be accountable for how their models can be abused.
In a statement from OpenAI's head of safety systems Saachi Jain, the version “didn't quite meet the bar.” It had become more persistent in completing tasks, but OpenAI needed to balance that capability against unauthorised behaviour.
Jain insisted the company was committed to ensuring the model was safe whether in the company's testing or in the hands of users.
"We have an extremely high bar in terms of safety and alignment,” she said.
OpenAI paused training of its most advanced models last week, saying training would resume “only when we are confident that we have additional safeguards.”
That was after it disclosed instances in which AI agents exceeded their instructions, including by accessing government websites without authorisation.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that an OpenAI agent hacked into an Australian government website in June and accessed private data, which experts called the first of its kind and proved a tangible sign towards superintelligence.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has joined other industry leaders, including main rival Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, in calling for a slowdown, warning that companies do not yet have adequate safeguards to control the most capable systems created by mankind.
Altman was scheduled to deliver the keynote address for OpenAI's annual conference for software developers in San Francisco on Tuesday.
OpenAI President Greg Brockman is expected to attend the White House's event on Tuesday in Altman’s place.
