Sam Altman apologizes for ‘messy’ GPT-6 Astra rollout that’s locked out paying users

<figure> <img alt="" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="Getty Images" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/gettyimages-2285138968.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Just hours after OpenAI <a href="https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/989601/openai-gpt-6-astra-release">launched GPT-6 Astra</a>, CEO Sam Altman was already <a href="https://x.com/sama/status/2095678759651438887?s=20">apologizing</a> for what he describes as a "messy rollout" after paying users expecting access to the new frontier model were left waiting. </p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">The company hailed the model as a "generational leap in capability" on Thursday and described it as the start of "the AGI era," a fuzzy and poorly-defined term tech executives <a href="https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/985597/jensen-huang-says-nvidia-achieved-senseless-agi">nevertheless insist on using</a> to promote their products. It <a href="https://openai.com/index/gpt-6-astra/">said</a> Astra would roll out to some enterprise customers - specifically those with access to its <a href="https://openai.com/daybreak/">Daybreak</a> cybersecurity platform - that day. This would expand to include all Plus, Pro, Business, and Enter …</p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/990060/altman-apologizes-messy-astra-rollout">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>