OpenAI Ships GPT-5.6, Merges Codex Into ChatGPT, and Goes After Your Desktop OpenAI launched GPT-5.6 on Thursday as a three-model family, Sol, Terra, and Luna, but the models are only half the story. The company also unveiled ChatGPT Work, a workplace agent that runs multi-step tasks across Slack, Google Drive, and Microsoft 365, and confirmed it is merging the Codex app into a rebuilt ChatGPT desktop client.
The move consolidates OpenAI's sprawling product lineup under Applications Chief Fidji Simo, who acknowledged internal fragmentation had "been slowing [the company] down and making it harder to hit the quality bar [they] want," according to internal communications reported by The Wall Street Journal.
GPT-5.6 Sol, the flagship, scores 59 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, within one point of Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 (59.9) while costing roughly one-third as much per task. It leads the Coding Agent Index at 80 points and hits 91.9% on Terminal-Bench 2.1. Pricing runs $5 per million input tokens and $30 per million output for Sol, $2.50 and $15 for Terra (roughly GPT-5.5-class at half the cost), and $1 and $6 for Luna.
OpenAI also introduced two new reasoning modes. Max mode allocates additional compute for complex problems.
Ultra mode coordinates four agents in parallel, letting users deploy multiple models simultaneously for demanding workflows.
ChatGPT Work is the centerpiece of the launch. The agent creates documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and web applications, running tasks for hours across connected enterprise tools.
It is OpenAI's direct answer to Anthropic's Claude Cowork, which expanded to mobile and web on July 7. In early internal testing, OpenAI reported that nearly 100% of its teams now use ChatGPT Work, with finance teams cutting month-end close from days to hours. The desktop push extends beyond work agents.
The rebuilt ChatGPT app includes a built-in browser, computer control capabilities, multi-tab support, and enterprise authentication. The Codex engineering environment is being folded into this unified interface, ending its run as a standalone product. Codex had grown to over 3 million weekly active developers, but OpenAI is betting that a single desktop surface will drive deeper enterprise adoption.
Access to GPT-5.6 opens today across ChatGPT, Codex, and the API, with Sol available to Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users. Free and Go users get GPT-5.6 Terra.
The full rollout may take 24 hours to reach all users. The release follows a U.S. government-mandated national security testing delay that pushed the launch from June to July.
OpenAI claims GPT-5.6 blocks ten times as much malicious activity as previous models and delivers "a step change in design judgment" on creative tasks. The company is also retiring legacy architectures: GPT-5.2 and GPT-4.5 have been fully shut down, and the o3 model will be deprecated by late August 2026.
