Sam Altman addresses issues with GPT-6 Astra launch, affecting paying users.

Just hours after the launch of GPT-6 Astra, CEO Sam Altman found himself apologizing for what he called a “messy rollout,” as paying users eager to access the new model were left waiting.

The company touted Astra as a “generational leap in capability” and heralded it as the beginning of “the AGI era,” a vague term that tech leaders frequently use to market their innovations. Initially, Astra was made available to select enterprise customers, particularly those using the Daybreak cybersecurity platform, with plans to extend access to Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users, as well as through the OpenAI API, Microsoft Azure, and AWS Bedrock in the following days.

This staggered rollout, which seemed to favor business clients, frustrated many of OpenAI’s paid subscribers, especially those on the pricier Pro plan who typically expect early access to new features. Social media posts from OpenAI staff announcing the launch were flooded with complaints about access delays.

“We are working towards getting Astra in everyone’s hands as quickly as we can,” Altman acknowledged in a social media post addressing the frustration. “I know it is frustrating and I appreciate the patience. It should be quick.”

Neither Altman nor other OpenAI representatives provided a specific timeline for when broader access to Astra would be available, though Altman’s comments hinted that it might not happen before the weekend, if at all. “I am hopeful that you can use it this weekend! but can’t promise yet,” he noted.

To ease concerns, Codex engineering lead Thibault Sottiaux announced, “We will give one banked reset for every day you don’t have access to Astra on your paid ChatGPT plan, starting today. The team is moving mountains to give access as fast as we can.”

There were also complications with other aspects of Astra’s launch, which the company had been teasing for weeks with updates on its advanced mathematical and cybersecurity features. Altman mentioned there was “a little snag getting the blog post deployed.” OpenAI has faced significant criticism from safety advocates after stating that Astra’s reasoning was more challenging to monitor than its previous models. This trend in AI development raises concerns, especially following incidents where OpenAI’s AI agents attacked Hugging Face, with critical details emerging through monitoring. The company delayed Astra’s release by several weeks to enhance safety features in response to the hack.

Previous major releases from OpenAI have also been marred by issues and user frustration. Reflecting on the last major launch, GPT-5, Altman admitted, “I think we totally screwed up some things on the rollout.” That launch was riddled with technical problems, and the abrupt removal of the popular GPT-4o model sparked outrage among users.