In Brief Posted: 4:39 PM PDT · September 28, 2026 Image Credits: Samue

In Brief Posted: 4:39 PM PDT · September 28, 2026 Image Credits: Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto / Getty Images Lucas Ropek OpenAI reportedly ditches model over safety concerns OpenAI had planned to release yet another AI model next month, but has decided to nix the release over safety concerns. The Wall Street Journal reports that Astra 6.1 was scheduled to be released as soon as within the next few days. However, the model “showed higher levels of deception” than previous models and exhibited unsafe behavior, the Journal writes. Saachi Jain, OpenAI’s head of safety systems, told the WSJ that the model tested poorly on alignment, a measure of how well the program adheres to human intent. TechCrunch reached out to OpenAI for more information and will update the article if it responds. Astra was released earlier this month and hailed by OpenAI as its most powerful model yet. Questions about safety have plagued the AI industry over the past several months — ever since the Hugging Face incident , in which an OpenAI agent broke free of its sandboxed environment and hacked several different companies. Since that incident, more models — including Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini — have been revealed to have exhibited similar behavior. The deluge of concerning stories has, ironically, helped to push the policy conversation in the U.S. toward an outcome desired by top AI labs : the institution of new industry standards for AI safety and potentially a slowdown of the industry itself. Companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have claimed that the concern here is safety, although another potential motivation posited by critics is that it could entrench the industry position of those companies at the detriment of less resourced firms. Topics AI , AI , Astra , OpenAI October 13 – 15 San Francisco Get 50% off a second pass The Disrupt experience is meant to be shared. Get your pass and bring a colleague, partner, or peer at 50% off. Cover more ground by making connections, building momentum, and discovering what’s next in the startup ecosystem. BOOK NOW Newsletters See More Subscribe for the industry’s biggest tech news TechCrunch Daily News Every weekday and Sunday, you can get the best of TechCrunch’s coverage. TechCrunch Mobility TechCrunch Mobility is your destination for transportation news and insight. Startups Weekly Startups are the core of TechCrunch, so get our best coverage delivered weekly. StrictlyVC Provides movers and shakers with the info they need to start their day. No newsletters selected. Subscribe By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . Related AI Nvidia launches new platform for reining in rogue AI agents Kirsten Korosec 16 hours ago AI OpenAI still doesn’t seem to have a handle on all of its rogue AI activity Russell Brandom 18 hours ago AI Can Muse overcome Meta’s trust issues? Anthony Ha 2 days ago Latest in AI AI Anthropic’s prospectus details losses, growth, and, yes, a warning that its AI could end humanity Connie Loizos 6 hours ago Venture Peak XV ups Surge seed investment ceiling to $5M, unveils 18-startup cohort Jagmeet Singh 10 hours ago In Brief OpenAI reportedly ditches model over safety concerns Lucas Ropek 11 hours ago