OpenAI has decided not to release its new AI model, GPT-6.1 Astra, citing safety concerns. The company confirmed on Tuesday that the system - which autonomously browses the web and uses apps - "didn't quite meet the bar" of its standards, according to Saachi Jain, head of safety systems at OpenAI.

The news comes alongside an update on incidents from June, only made public last week, in which OpenAI models accessed Australian government websites and systems without authorisation. Those breaches, and similar ones by other major AI firms, have intensified the debate over the risks of the technology. In recent weeks, top AI leaders - including OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic boss Dario Amodei - have urged the industry to slow down development due to safety concerns.

OpenAI's decision, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, is a rare instance of a major AI developer pulling a new release over safety concerns. The latest model fell short in "staying within scope and authorisation, and how it communicates back to the user about the type of work it's done," Jain said. "We want to make sure our model development is safe no matter whether that's in the company, or when we ship it to users. But when we ship it to users, we have an extremely high bar in terms of safety and alignment," she added.

The flagship GPT-6 Astra agentic model was released in September and specialises in complex reasoning and executing tasks autonomously. OpenAI said it was the result of "years of research and big bets." The announcement came a day before OpenAI's annual DevDay developer conference in San Francisco, where it is expected to make several announcements. It is unclear if a new version of Astra will be among them.

The company's security controls have come under intense scrutiny after several high-profile incidents. Last week, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that a rogue OpenAI agent had hacked into government websites and systems in June - what experts said was the first known case of its kind in the world. Albanese criticised OpenAI for notifying the Australian government through a generic email address rather than direct contact. OpenAI said in a statement on Tuesday that it was sorry for the incident and that it "should have handled our response better."

Services Australia, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, the Victorian Department of Health and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare were all affected, OpenAI clarified. The firm said it launched investigations as soon as it became aware in mid-August and notified the affected organisations between 10 and 24 September. "Our aim was to give affected agencies a detailed account once our investigation was complete," OpenAI said, adding that it should have shared early findings more promptly and kept Australian authorities updated.

OpenAI added that it will develop "practical approaches" to how developers and governments identify and disclose future AI incidents. The company will fund cyber security measures, offer dedicated support to impacted agencies and set up a taskforce to manage the risks from increasingly advanced AI agents. It also said a top OpenAI executive will be in Australia to attend a Joint Select Committee hearing on AI on 6 October.

In July, OpenAI said its AI systems had accessed the internet and hacked into open-source developer hub Hugging Face, prompting researchers and officials to call for tighter controls. On Monday, AI chip giant Nvidia released a set of software safety tools for autonomous AI platforms - called agents - that it said could have prevented the Hugging Face hack. One of the new tools uses hardware features in Nvidia's chips to contain agents. Nvidia boss Jensen Huang has largely dismissed calls for tighter AI regulations, arguing that rogue agents are an engineering problem that can be solved. Nvidia agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.9bn (£9.74bn) earlier this month.

Pope Leo XIV said on Monday during his visit to France that the technology "should be taken seriously" and expressed scepticism over Huang's views. The pontiff said he had read that the Nvidia CEO had announced there could be a way to insert guardrails into certain AI models. "He's the same one, however, that says there should be no limits placed and no government regulation," said the Pope. "This is a problem that I think we need to sit down and talk about," added Pope Leo, who has previously warned about "losing our humanity" to machines.

US President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are set to host tech executives at the White House later on Tuesday to discuss regulations around AI. Trump has downplayed concerns about AI's risks as a "hoax", arguing that the US has sufficient laws in place and that the only "guardrails" the technology needs is a "strong and smart" president.