OpenAI releases GPT-5.5, bringing company one step closer to an AI ‘super app’

Source: TechCrunch

OpenAI on Thursday released GPT‑5.5, its newest AI model, which the company calls its “smartest and most intuitive to use model” yet. The algorithm comes with increased capabilities in a multitude of areas, with OpenAI co‑founder and president Greg Brockman saying it brings the company one step closer to the creation of OpenAI’s “super app.”

Super‑App Vision

During a call with journalists, Brockman described GPT‑5.5 as a big advancement “towards more agentic and intuitive computing.”

“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,” Brockman said.
“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 added that the model is an additional step toward building a super app—a multi‑purpose, “Swiss Army knife” program that the co‑founders have discussed launching. The vision is to combine ChatGPT, Codex, and an AI‑powered browser into a unified service for enterprise customers. The concept has also been highlighted by Elon Musk, who wants to turn X into a similar super‑app.

Model Performance

OpenAI released data on Thursday showing GPT‑5.5’s superior performance across a range of benchmarks. Compared with its predecessors and competing models from Google and Anthropic (e.g., Gemini 3.1 Pro and Claude Opus 4.5), GPT‑5.5 consistently scores higher.

“We see pretty significant improvements in the short term, extremely significant improvements in the medium term,” said Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI’s chief scientist. “In fact, I would say, like, I think the last two years have been surprisingly slow.”

Comparison with Anthropic

The rivalry with Anthropic resurfaced when a reporter asked whether GPT‑5.5 would have capabilities similar to Anthropic’s cybersecurity tool Mythos. Mia Glaese, a member of OpenAI’s technical staff, responded that GPT‑5.5 would have a significant impact on the company’s approach to digital defense:

“We have a strong and longstanding strategy for our approach to cyber, and we’ve refined a durable approach to rolling out models safely.”

Applications

Mark Chen, chief research officer at OpenAI, highlighted several areas where GPT‑5.5 shows meaningful gains:

• Computer work – better at navigating complex workflows.
• Scientific and technical research – can help expert scientists make progress.
• Drug discovery – aligns with growing industry interest in AI‑driven pharmaceutical research.

Availability

GPT‑5.5 is widely available starting Thursday. The model is being deployed to Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users in ChatGPT, while GPT‑5.5 Pro is headed to Pro, Business, and Enterprise tiers.