OpenAI relabels gpt-5.6-sol from 'Frontier model' to 'Flagship model' and gpt-5.2 from 'Previous frontier model' to 'Previous flagship model' in a coordinated tier edit
Three model description changes landed in the same detection window: gpt-5.6-sol shifted from 'Frontier model for complex professional work' to 'Flagship model for complex professional work'; gpt-5.2 shifted from 'Previous frontier model for professional work with configurable reasoning effort' to 'Previous flagship model for professional work with configurable reasoning effort'; and gpt-5-mini dropped 'Near-frontier intelligence' in favor of 'Strong intelligence for cost sensitive, low latency, high volume workloads.' Retiring 'frontier' as the descriptor for gpt-5.6-sol while retaining the commercial label 'flagship' is consistent with OpenAI clearing headroom in its tier language for a higher-tier frontier release above gpt-5.6-sol — a move that would extend the product hierarchy and could reshape enterprise pricing architecture.
Cited change rows
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| cached_input_per_mtok | ∅ | ∅ |
| context_window | ∅ | ∅ |
| currency | USD | USD |
| effective_from | ∅ | ∅ |
| effective_until | ∅ | ∅ |
| input_per_mtok | ∅ | ∅ |
| model_slug | gpt-5.2 | gpt-5.2 |
| notes | Previous frontier model for professional work with configurable reasoning effort | Previous flagship model for professional work with configurable reasoning effort |
| output_per_mtok | ∅ | ∅ |
| provider | openai | openai |
| tier | ∅ | ∅ |
| field | before | after |
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| cached_input_per_mtok | ∅ | ∅ |
| context_window | ∅ | ∅ |
| currency | USD | USD |
| effective_from | ∅ | ∅ |
| effective_until | ∅ | ∅ |
| input_per_mtok | ∅ | ∅ |
| model_slug | gpt-5-mini | gpt-5-mini |
| notes | Near-frontier intelligence for cost sensitive, low latency, high volume workloads | Strong intelligence for cost sensitive, low latency, high volume workloads |
| output_per_mtok | ∅ | ∅ |
| provider | openai | openai |
| tier | ∅ | ∅ |
| field | before | after |
|---|---|---|
| cached_input_per_mtok | ∅ | ∅ |
| context_window | ∅ | ∅ |
| currency | USD | USD |
| effective_from | ∅ | ∅ |
| effective_until | ∅ | ∅ |
| input_per_mtok | ∅ | ∅ |
| model_slug | gpt-5.6-sol | gpt-5.6-sol |
| notes | Frontier model for complex professional work | Flagship model for complex professional work |
| output_per_mtok | ∅ | ∅ |
| provider | openai | openai |
| tier | ∅ | ∅ |