OpenAI puts the brakes on a new model because it’s supposedly too powerful

AINewsTechOpenAI puts the brakes on a new model because it’s supposedly too powerfulOpenAI says its in-development Astra model may have ‘critical’ cybersecurity capabilities.OpenAI says its in-development Astra model may have ‘critical’ cybersecurity capabilities.by Jay PetersAug 7, 2026, 6:40 PM UTCLinkShareGiftImage: The VergeJay Peters is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.OpenAI says it is pausing “internal activities” around an in-development AI model, Astra, because it doesn’t yet meet new security standards the company is putting in place. The announcement follows its recent disclosure that OpenAI models accidentally hacked Hugging Face. Anthropic and Meta have also since admitted that they had AI models that went rogue and breached other organizations.Recent internal evaluations of an OpenAI model called Astra indicate that it offers “significant advancements in agentic coding and cybersecurity,” according to the company. “These results, in addition to expert assessments, have led us to conclude last night that we cannot rule out critical cyber capabilities under our Preparedness Framework⁠.”Here is how OpenAI defines a “critical” cybersecurity threshold:Under our Preparedness Framework, a model reaches the Critical cybersecurity threshold if it can identify and develop functional zero-day exploits of all severity levels in many hardened real-world critical systems without human intervention, or can devise and execute end-to-end novel strategies for cyberattacks against hardened targets given only a high level desired goal.Astra was “not involved” in the Hugging Face breach, OpenAI says.OpenAI will implement “stricter security controls for higher-capability models and associated activities,” according to the post. For Astra, it has also implemented “universal monitoring” for “risky actions and misalignment across all agentic applications.”Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Jay PetersAINewsOpenAISecurityTechMost PopularMost PopularWerewolf transformed my old gadgets into USB-C powered onesWhy does Apple keep banning Telegram, but never X?Trying to explain One Night Only’s tech-enforced sex dystopiaJony Ive’s first OpenAI gadget is reportedly a hockey puck-sized smart speakerFord’s first ultra-cheap EV is called Fathom, a full-featured truck for $28,350The Verge DailyA free daily digest of the news that matters most.Email (required)Sign UpBy submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.Advertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad