OpenAI is publicly releasing its GPT-5.6 model family on Thursday, intensifying competition in the artificial intelligence sector as rival SpaceXAI prepares its own debut system the same day. The Trump administration initially sought restricted distribution citing security concerns before clearing the broader rollout of the Sol, Terra, and Luna variants.
Elon Musk's SpaceXAI — the new name for xAI following its absorption into SpaceX five months ago — is launching its first model developed jointly with Cursor, the code editor built by startup Anysphere that SpaceX acquired in a $60 billion all-stock deal. Trained at xAI's Colossus data centers, the system is expected to rival Anthropic's Opus 4.8 and OpenAI's GPT 5.5.
Musk has framed the reorganization as necessary to address global energy demands for AI infrastructure, with SpaceXAI pursuing orbital data centers supported by a proposed constellation of one million computing satellites.