OpenAI Launches Daybreak Red With GPT-5.6-Cyber, First Model to Hit 'High' Cyber Threshold

OpenAI on Aug 10 expanded its Daybreak initiative with two tiers: Daybreak Blue (GPT-5.6 Sol with system-level cyber guardrails removed, which answers ~2% of advanced security queries) and Daybreak Red, which grants access to a new purpose-trained model, GPT-5.6-Cyber, that responds to 95% of sensitive queries covering exploit-chain development, authentication bypass and privilege escalation — up from 57.3% for its predecessor GPT-5.5-Cyber. The model discovered two previously unknown V8 vulnerabilities in Chrome that can be chained to corrupt memory and bypass the V8 heap sandbox; Google patched them under CVE-2026-15903. GPT-5.6-Cyber is OpenAI's first model to hit the 'High' cyber capability threshold under its Preparedness Framework (short of 'Critical', which paused Astra last week), and OpenAI is making hardware security keys mandatory for all Daybreak accounts on Sept 1.