OpenAI will provide its latest artificial intelligence models in the form of a limited preview "for a small group of trusted partners", at the request of the White House.
The maker of ChatGPT announced the move in a statement related to its newest models, GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna.
In the statement, the California-based AI company said that it had given a preview of the models and their capabilities to the US federal government.
"At their request, we are starting with a limited preview for a small group of trusted partners whose participation has been shared with the government, before releasing more broadly," the statement posted to OpenAI's website read.
The company, led by Sam Altman, added that it doesn't want this sort of rollout to become a long-term solution to the Trump administration's worries about powerful AI models falling into the wrong hands.
"We are taking this short-term step because we believe it is the strongest path to broader availability in the coming weeks, while we work with the Administration to develop the cyber Executive Order framework and a repeatable process for future model releases," it said.
Ever since his second term began last year, US President Donald Trump has said that he wants his White House to take a less regulatory and more innovation-centric approach to AI, often criticising his predecessor Joe Biden's policies towards the technology in the process.
Yet in recent weeks, the White House has taken regulatory measures steps related to AI that have been far more heavy handed than anything Mr Biden ever proposed.
Earlier in the month, the Department of Commerce forced OpenAI rival Anthropic to disable access to its latest AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, for "any foreign national, whether inside the US or outside".
Anthropic, which had claimed that those models were finely tuned to reduce the potential risk of misuse that the company had warned about for several months, said the Commerce Department had cited a vague risk that the models could be compromised.
"We have not even received a disclosure of a concerning non-universal potential jailbreak that led to a harmful result," the company said.
In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, at least 100 AI executives, cybersecurity experts and academics expressed concerns with the Trump administration's moves.
Regardless, Anthropic complied with White House orders.
A debate about whether or not the Trump administration is overstepping, however, has continued to percolate.
"We’re quickly barreling toward a future where the few control an extraordinarily powerful expressive technology without democratic transparency and accountability," said John Coleman, legislative counsel for Fire, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
"This power grab should concern all of us, no matter your opinion of AI."
One day before OpenAI's announcement, The National asked the US State Department about whether or not the recent White House regulatory moves on AI contradicted Pax Silica, an effort to strengthen US-led AI coalitions.
A State Department representative said that "ensuring American technology dominance and protecting critical technologies are not mutually exclusive", adding that the Pax Silica coalition is "built exactly on that understanding".
