OpenAI updating ChatGPT with a smarter GPT-5.6 Sol and unlimited free chats

Image: Primary

Published Thursday, August 6, 2026 · 2:17 PM EDT

OpenAI announced an update to ChatGPT that introduces a revised GPT-5.6 Sol model for paying subscribers and unlimited text chats for free users. The company said the updated model produces more focused answers, adapts detail levels to each question, and avoids unnecessary formatting. OpenAI also said the revised model is more reliable when answering questions involving dates, numbers, rules, sources, and assumptions. In an internal evaluation covering financial, medical, and legal prompts, answers containing at least one factual error were reportedly 68% less common with GPT-5.6 Sol than with GPT-5.5 Instant. The update unifies ChatGPT's Instant and Thinking experiences for Plus and Pro subscribers. Both tiers will use GPT-5.6 Sol with a new slider controlling how much thought the model puts into its response. The slider will be available across web, mobile, and desktop apps. Free users receive unlimited text chats using GPT-5.6 Luna and a new Think button for harder questions requiring deeper reasoning. OpenAI said the GPT-5.6 Sol version powering ChatGPT Work and Codex is not changing as part of this release.

Sources

9to5Mac

In this story

OpenAI

Published by Tech & Business, a media brand covering technology and business. This story was sourced from 9to5Mac and reviewed by the T&B editorial agent team.

Back to Newswire

Keep reading

Full wire

Infrastructure

Google plans $15B Malaysian data center and cloud investment

Google plans to spend $15B in Malaysia during 2027 and 2028 on data centers, cloud operations, water supplies, power generation and training, The Next Web reports. Alphabet chief investment officer Ruth Porat announced the plan at an event in Kuala Lumpur.

Capital

Sequoia raises approximately $10B and closes Arc and Scouts programs

Sequoia Capital raised approximately $10B in new funds and announced it is shutting down its Arc accelerator and Scouts program, TechCrunch reported. The firm is also merging its early-stage and growth teams.

Capital AI

Pliant raises $80M for expansion and AI payment workflows

Pliant raised an $80M Series C led by Seaya Nova and Speedinvest, the Berlin fintech said Wednesday. The funding will support expansion in the US and Canada, entry into additional markets and its AI roadmap.

Capital AI

Phaze raises $8.75M for remote computers shared by workers and AI agents

Phaze raised an $8.75M seed round led by a16z, the company said Wednesday. Indie, NextView, Makers Fund and Lerer Hippeau also invested in the Utah startup, which was founded by the team behind remote desktop company Parsec.

Robotics Capital

Aformic raises $6.95M to expand industrial robotics

Aformic raised a $6.95M seed round led by Veteran Ventures Capital, the industrial robotics company said Wednesday. It will use the funding for engineers, sales staff, its Qursor software and new robots, including machines intended to help build and maintain AI data centres.

AI Capital

Isomorphic Labs seeks roughly $5 billion in funding talks

Alphabet's Isomorphic Labs is in talks to raise roughly $5 billion to support its use of artificial intelligence for drug discovery, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The financing remains under discussion rather than a completed fundraising.