OpenAI updating ChatGPT with a smarter GPT

ChatGPT has become so much more than just chat over the last year. To that end, OpenAI is removing limits on text chat. ChatGPT will also improve with a smarter version of GPT-5.6 Sol. Details below. GPT-5.6 Sol gets smarter in ChatGPT OpenAI introduced GPT-5.6 Sol in June as the flagship member of a three-model family. Sol, Terra, and Luna became widely available in ChatGPT and Codex the following month. Now OpenAI is releasing a version of GPT-5.6 Sol tuned specifically for everyday conversations in ChatGPT. The company says the update should produce more focused answers, adapt the level of detail to each question, and avoid unnecessary formatting. The updates to GPT‑5.6 Sol in ChatGPT are designed to give you more direct responses, use tighter formatting, and avoid extra detail when it does not help. For a quick question, that means a direct answer with the context you need. For more involved work like multi-step planning, research or writing, it means a fuller response that keeps the main recommendation clear. The update also unifies ChatGPT’s Instant and Thinking experiences for Plus and Pro subscribers. Both 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 the ChatGPT apps for web, mobile, and desktop. Users can keep it low for quick questions or increase the reasoning level for research, planning, writing, coding, and more complicated decisions. Plus and Pro users can use the new slider in ChatGPT on web, mobile, and desktop to choose how much thought ChatGPT puts into an answer. Keep it quick for everyday questions, or move the slider up for planning, research, writing, coding, or decisions that need more thought. OpenAI also claims 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. Unlimited ChatGPT text chats for free users The other major change applies to people using ChatGPT without a paid subscription. We’re expanding access to our latest models for free users with unlimited text chats using GPT‑5.6 Luna, plus a new Think button for harder questions. For questions that require deeper reasoning, Free users can tap the new Think button to give GPT‑5.6 Luna more time to work through the answer. Plus and Pro subscribers can begin using the revised GPT-5.6 Sol and reasoning slider today. This update only applies to the model used for regular ChatGPT conversations. OpenAI says the GPT-5.6 Sol version powering ChatGPT Work and Codex is not changing as part of this release. 9to5Mac’s Take Removing limits on text chat in ChatGPT is especially useful right now as Apple prepares to launch Siri AI in iOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate. Apple is essentially making text-based chat part of the core OS experience. However, Apple isn’t tackling many of the agentic features that modern ChatGPT offers. Making text chat unlimited matches what the platforms are able to offer as well. One more detail: Apple does say that some heavy Siri AI usage will require a paid iCloud+ account. ChatGPT removing limits on text chat potentially puts it ahead in this way.