The AI Industry as You Know It Died Today

The Algorithmic Bridge

SubscribeSign in

The AI Industry as You Know It Died Today<br>OpenAI announced GPT-5.6 but a terrible thing has happened

Alberto Romero<br>Jun 27, 2026

35

11

Share

Hey, Alberto here! 👋 Each week, I publish long-form AI analysis covering culture, philosophy, and business. Paid subscribers get Monday how-to guides and Friday news commentary. If you’d like to become a paid subscriber, here’s a button for that:

Subscribe

My take on the news that the US government is now controlling the AI industry.

GPT-5.6 is here. It is OpenAI’s response to Anthropic’s Fable 5 and it comes in three versions: Sol, Terra and Luna. According to OpenAI, it’s a very good model (lately, all are). With some good benchmark scores and etc.<br>But a terrible thing has happened, the worst augurs have come true: you won’t have it.<br>One day before the announcement, The Information reported that GPT-5.6 would not be launched normally. The US government had asked OpenAI to do a staggered release, starting with trusted partners inside the US. They also reported that the government would be granting access in a “consumer by consumer” basis during the preview process (we don’t know how long that will be).<br>That’s really bad for us commoners, especially those outside the US. Here’s what OpenAI has to say about that:<br>We believe in broad access, and we plan to make GPT‑5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna generally available in the coming weeks. . . . At [the government’s] request, we are starting with a limited preview for a small group of trusted partners . . . before releasing more broadly.

What this means is: today was the last normal day in the AI industry.<br>But instead of being so due to unfathomable capabilities or the singularity or something, it’s because AI has stepped with both feet into undemocratic terrain. I’ve been writing about this for months now, but more on that later.<br>For this move, the government took inspiration on Anthropic’s decision to withhold Mythos Preview back in April. First, it forced Anthropic to un-release Fable 5 two weeks ago, and now it prevents OpenAI from releasing GPT-5.6 at all. The best AI models ever built are under chains. You are all behind the frontier now.<br>This will, in my opinion, rip apart the entire Western AI ecosystem. China is rushing ahead with Z.ai and DeepSeek and others who are closing the gap with frontier models. As for the waning American open source community, they will be held by the same standards as OpenAI and Anthropic but none of the benefits of being a government partner. Besides, open source is the invisible infrastructure of the world, meaning it’s fundamental but no one knows it’s there; people won’t use open source models. It is, by definition, a niche branch of the AI industry. And, talking about ripple effects, let’s not mention how this will affect the presumed investment bubble and the general sentiment and the demand for the tech, etc, etc.<br>You only do such a self-own if you are scared to death or if you don’t need the world anymore.<br>To you and me, both are really bad.<br>What happens next is unknown—although I have my suspicions, as I will say in a moment—but why this happened is, as I see it, clear as day: Anthropic got what they wanted.<br>Anthropic wanted safety to be put above everything and now it is above us. They take issue with how it’s being done but not with the decision in principle: “this is the worst AI will ever be,” they said, “and so the US government needs to step up.” And so they did.<br>To be completely honest, I’m not sure whether this is real fear or just play pretend because, strangely, both things achieve the same goal: If the US government is pretending to be scared about AI capabilities, that means they will not give us normal access for any future model because they want a monopoly. If they’re genuinely scared, that means they will not give us normal access to any future models because they don’t want AI to be democratic.<br>So, essentially, the same thing.<br>You see, the singularity is finally here, just not the kind most were expecting.<br>Now let’s see the receipts because I’ve already laid out how (I think) things will work out and why this is happening in the first place.<br>Below are some excerpts from *Kayfable,* a recent essay where I explored the situation between Anthropic and the US government and the repercussions on the industry. I think these paragraphs shed light on what happened and on what promises to be a dark road ahead:<br>You have to understand that Anthropic’s ultimate goal is not to build AGI, but to own it. To control it. They don’t trust you or me with it, and never have. Their safety stance has never been an “AI is unsafe” stance, but an “AI is unsafe in your unsafe hands” stance.

OpenAI’s current stance—because they know it’s good PR to be seen as opposing Anthropic—is that broad access for humanity is “good, actually,” but Sam Altman has previously spoken in favor of a “Manhattan...