OpenAI’s limited preview of GPT-5.6, with the Sol flagship locked to about 20 vetted partners at the U.S. government’s request, marks a turning point: the most powerful AI is being handed first to governments and a few firms, while researchers, startups and the public are left waiting.
The safety argument for gating has weight — powerful models can be abused — but selective access risks concentrating political, economic and surveillance power in closed hands, shrinking independent audit and public accountability.
Gating also stifles innovation: if frontier models reach only favored partners, alternative ecosystems and secretive workarounds will emerge, increasing fragmentation and the chance of riskier, unregulated copies.
If governments must limit access, they should do so transparently with clear timelines, independent audits and prioritized access for public-interest researchers — otherwise AI’s promise of broad empowerment will be replaced by concentrated control.
ACCESS RESTRICTED, POWER CONCENTRATED — DEMOCRACY NEEDS AI FOR ALL, NOT JUST A FEW.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.