OpenAI says it slowed Astra model development over security concerns

🚨 Flash Sale 🚨 Get $100 off your Disrupt 2026 ticket

Get $400 off your Disrupt 2026 ticket: REGISTER NOW.

Image Credits:SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg / Getty Images

AI

OpenAI says it slowed Astra model development over security concerns

Kirsten Korosec

3:48 PM PDT · August 7, 2026

OpenAI said Friday it has suspended work on some aspects of its upcoming model Astra after an internal review found it had made significant advancements in agentic coding and cybersecurity — enough to warrant concern over its capabilities.

OpenAI said in a blog post Friday that this model, which is still in development, reached its "critical cybersecurity threshold," meaning it could independently identify and carry out cyberattacks against traditionally well-protected real-world systems. Under the company's "Preparedness Framework," which it created in 2023, this triggered additional safeguards.

"While we continue to benchmark and assess this model, our preliminary evaluations indicate strong enough performance that we cannot rule out Critical capability level at this time," OpenAI wrote. "Astra is an upcoming model, and was not involved in exploiting Hugging Face."

The disclosure highlights an unusual moment in the topsy-turvy and still nascent frontier AI labs sector. Companies across every industry hold back products over potential risks, including for safety and cybersecurity concerns. But they rarely announce those decisions publicly when it's a product that is still under development.

In this case, OpenAI is already under scrutiny after a different unreleased model breached Hugging Face's systems during internal testing — the first verifiable incident of an AI lab losing control of its model. Since then, OpenAI and AI labs such as Anthropic have disclosed other incidents in which AI models breached their sandboxes and posed threats during cybersecurity tests.

The string of cases — seems like a new disclosure every day now — has triggered varying reactions from cybersecurity experts, lawmakers, and the AI labs themselves. Some express fear and call for stricter oversight. But there's also a bit of flexing. In certain circles, any AI lab with a model that has that kind of capability will be seen as an impressive advancement.

OpenAI said it was sharing this information because it believes "it's important to be transparent with the public and the safety and security communities about this potential shift in capabilities."

The AI lab said it's also taking action, including enacting stricter security controls and pausing internal activities involving Astra that don't meet these beefed guardrails. OpenAI said it is working with relevant government agencies and "select AI safety organizations" to test the capabilities for this model.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Kirsten Korosec

Transportation Editor

October 13 – 15 San Francisco

Scale faster. Grow your portfolio. Gain practical expertise. No matter your goal, Disrupt can empower you.Save up to $400 today!

Most Popular

ChatGPT brings unlimited text chats to free users

Ivan Mehta

Amid legal battles, Suno says it will start watermarking songs

Ivan Mehta

Ford's new electric truck, 'Fathom,' starts at $28,350

Sean O'Kane

Bending Spoons to buy Airtable for $1.28B

Ivan Mehta

Influencers draw backlash for attending OpenAI's first luxury trip

Dominic-Madori Davis

Sequoia's Shaun Maguire leads $1B round for nuclear startup Valar Atomics

Julie Bort

YouTuber Hank Green says his AI usage is ‘not healthy’

Anthony Ha