OpenAI unveiled GPT-5.5 on Thursday, describing it as their most intelligent and user-friendly model to date. The new algorithm boasts enhanced capabilities across numerous domains, with co-founder and president Greg Brockman stating that it moves the company closer to realizing its vision of a "superapp."

During a press call, Brockman emphasized that this release represents a major advancement "towards more agentic and intuitive computing." He elaborated, "This model is a real step forward towards the kind of computing that we expect in the future - but it is one step, and we expect to see many in the future. It’s a faster, sharper thinker for fewer tokens compared to something like 5.4. So this means that there’s just more frontier AI available for businesses and for consumers, which is part of our goal."

Brockman also highlighted that the model brings OpenAI closer to launching a "superapp"—a versatile, all-in-one program akin to a Swiss Army knife. This concept, previously discussed by Brockman and co-founder Sam Altman, envisions merging ChatGPT, Codex, and an AI browser into a unified service tailored for enterprise customers. Notably, this superapp idea is also a focal point for Altman's rival and former OpenAI colleague Elon Musk, who aims to transform X (formerly Twitter) into a similar platform.

OpenAI has maintained a rapid release schedule, with its last model debuting just last month, preceded by releases in December and November. Company staff indicated that this brisk pace is expected to continue. Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI’s chief scientist, remarked, "We see pretty significant improvements in the short term, extremely significant improvements in the medium term. In fact, I would say, like, I think the last two years have been surprisingly slow."

GPT-5.5 is designed to excel across a wide range of applications, from foundational enterprise tasks like agentic coding and knowledge work to more experimental areas such as mathematics and scientific research. OpenAI released benchmark data on Thursday demonstrating the model's superior performance compared to its predecessors and competitors like Google's Gemini 3.1 Pro and Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.5. The company claims GPT-5.5 consistently outperforms these models.

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The rivalry between OpenAI and Anthropic was a recurring theme during the briefing. When asked whether GPT-5.5 would match the capabilities of Anthropic's recently announced cybersecurity tool, Mythos—which has faced controversy over unauthorized access—OpenAI’s technical staff member Mia Glaese responded, "We have a strong and long standing strategy for our approach to cyber, and we’ve refined a durable approach to rolling out models safely." Mark Chen, OpenAI’s chief research officer, added that GPT-5.5 is more adept at handling computer tasks and "shows meaningful gains on scientific and technical research workflows," noting that it could "help expert scientists make progress." He also mentioned potential applications in drug discovery, an area of growing industry interest.

GPT-5.5 became widely available on Thursday, according to OpenAI. The model is being deployed to Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users in ChatGPT, with GPT-5.5 Pro accessible to Pro, Business, and Enterprise subscribers.