OpenAI rolls out more capable version of cyber model
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OpenAI is releasing a more permissive version of its cybersecurity model, which the company says is designed for advanced, authorized security work.
Why it matters: Even as Anthropic remains in limbo with the U.S. government, the race to get advanced AI models into the hands of cyber defenders continues to heat up.
Driving the news: OpenAI is updating its GPT-5.5-Cyber model — which is only available to vetted cybersecurity companies and researchers — so it is both "more permissive and more capable for advanced, authorized cybersecurity work," according to a blog post.
- The updated model can perform deeper analysis across large codebases, identify security-relevant components, validate likely vulnerabilities, and develop and test software patches.
- OpenAI says the updated GPT-5.5-Cyber achieved an 85.6% score on CyberGym, an internal benchmark that measures whether an AI agent can reproduce known software vulnerabilities in testing environments, compared with 81.8% for GPT-5.5.
The big picture: OpenAI is expanding access to its cybersecurity tools at a time when policymakers are paying closer attention to how advanced AI systems are evaluated, tested and deployed.
- AI developers face a difficult balancing act: getting powerful cyber capabilities into the hands of legitimate defenders and researchers while limiting opportunities for malicious use.
Between the lines: OpenAI is also rolling out a series of new programs and capabilities designed to let vetted cybersecurity companies use its models to help secure customer environments.
- The company is launching the OpenAI Daybreak Cyber Partner Program, which allows participating security vendors to use GPT-5.5 with Trusted Access for Cyber in the products and services they provide to customers.
- Previously, approved organizations primarily used the company's cyber models on systems they owned or were authorized to test.
- OpenAI is also helping fund Patch the Planet, an initiative founded with Trail of Bits and developed in collaboration with HackerOne and Calif, aimed at helping open-source maintainers manage and remediate vulnerabilities identified with AI-assisted tools.
What to watch: OpenAI says it has established partnerships with Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Poland, the Republic of Korea and EU institutions.
- The company also says it is working with critical infrastructure operators and government networks on ways to safely deploy advanced AI cybersecurity capabilities.
Go deeper: Trump's Anthropic crackdown rattles cyber defenders
