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The U.S. Department of Commerce has cleared the way for OpenAI to proceed with a broad release of its advanced GPT-5.6 model, Axios reported<\/a>, citing a source familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n OpenAI anticipates the rollout to happen as early as this week, following additional testing and meetings between the company and government officials, according to the report late Tuesday.<\/p>\n OpenAI, the White House, and the U.S. Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment. <\/p>\n The Axios report follows<\/a> the debut of three new models that OpenAI unveiled late last month. At that time, OpenAI opted for a phased approach, initially limiting access to a “small group of trusted partners” to ensure full compliance with federal oversight. OpenAI didn’t disclose the names of partners. <\/p>\n In a blog post at the time of the announcement, the company said it “believes in broad access” and is working to make the models, GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna, generally available in the coming weeks. <\/p>\n This reported U.S. government decision comes as the Trump administration adopts a more hands-on approach to AI regulation, aiming to assess model capabilities prior to a full-scale release.<\/p>\n OpenAI’s domestic rival Anthropic also faced suspension of its Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models last month as it complied with government export controls. The restrictions were lifted<\/a> last week, ending a period of regulatory uncertainty that limited availability for users worldwide. <\/p>\n The U.S. government’s tight grip on domestic frontier AI is creating an unintended opportunity for Chinese competitors, who are leveraging this pause to gain ground with more accessible, cost-effective models.<\/p>\n Zhipu, trading as Knowledge Atlas Technology JSC, launched<\/a> its GLM 5.2 model last month, which is free to download, fine-tune, and run on an enterprise’s own servers.<\/p>\n