Models & LabsUnited States

OpenAI introduces GPT-6 Cyber under its Critical preparedness rating

Credited to Rackline · Sarah Chen · openai.com2h ago

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OpenAI on Nov. 5 introduced GPT-6 Cyber, a cybersecurity model the company classifies as Critical under its own Preparedness Framework, up from High for GPT-5.6 Cyber. OpenAI said the system is meant to find and validate exploitable vulnerabilities inside the scope researchers set.

The company said GPT-6 Cyber outperforms GPT-5.6 Cyber on its cybersecurity benchmarks. On ExploitGym, which tests whether a model can exploit a specified vulnerability in a remote target, OpenAI reported a 48.5% score for GPT-6 Cyber, up from 32.1% for GPT-5.6 Cyber. Those scores are OpenAI's own lab results, not an independent assessment.

Access runs through Daybreak, OpenAI's defender program. Daybreak Blue is aimed at verified defenders who validate vulnerabilities and fixes with fewer refusals. Daybreak Red enables deeper authorized security testing with GPT-6 Cyber. GPT-6 Cyber is initially available through the API and Codex to a select group of approved Daybreak Red customers. OpenAI said it will expand access to all Daybreak Red customers and is making GPT-5.6 Cyber available to all of them.

A new track inside Daybreak Red, Daybreak Red for Critical Infrastructure, gives approved critical-infrastructure defenders permission to run authorized testing of critical systems while retaining OpenAI's stated safeguards against model misalignment. OpenAI's $1 billion Daybreak for Frontline Defenders grant program subsidizes access for resource-constrained teams such as government organizations and essential-service providers.

OpenAI partnered with Dragos to evaluate cyber-permissive Daybreak Red models on a mock power-plant operational-technology range. The company said it used Dragos's feedback to refine safeguards so harmful assistance is blocked without cutting off authorized testing, and that it has increased threat investigations aimed at model use involving operational technology and industrial control systems.

OpenAI said it paired the stronger cyber capabilities with stronger misuse detection, including monitoring of whether actions match the user's authorization and checks meant to block high-risk assistance involving critical systems. The company recommended sandboxing, action review and human oversight for high-risk workflows. Those controls are company-stated deployment practices, not guarantees of safe outcomes.

The Nov. 5 post does not name a general-availability date, a list price or a full customer roster beyond the select Daybreak Red group already approved for GPT-6 Cyber. New users and organizations can apply for Daybreak, OpenAI said.

Source · openai.com

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Capital · United States

Sempra expects 20% increase to Oncor’s capex plan, driven by load growth

Credited to Utility Dive · utilitydive.com · 5h ago

“It’s too soon to tell exactly” how the results of the midterm elections will impact Oncor, said CEO Allen Nye. “We continue to believe that both parties want a strong and growing Texas.”

Oncor’s base capital plan of $47.5 billion for the next five years is expected to increase by 20% in its upcoming annual update, driven by “continued strong customer and load growth from a variety of sectors, all over our system,” said Oncor CEO Allen Nye during a Thursday third-quarter earnings call from the company’s majority owner, Sempra.

Sempra CEO and chairman Jeffrey Martin said during the call that Oncor — a utility with more than 14 million customers in Texas — continues to see “remarkably strong demand growth, having recently reached a new peak on its system of 33 GW, a 6% increase over the prior record set last year.”

“This increase underscores the robust economic growth that's occurring in Texas,” Martin said. The state’s growth is “broad-based,” he said, and “data centers are obviously the lion's share of it, but... there is a significant amount of non-data center growth.”

In response to an analyst question about the potential impact to state data center growth and Oncor itself due to the results of the midterm elections, Martin said, “We look forward to working with the new administration in Texas.”

“It's too soon to tell exactly what it all means,” Nye said. “But generally, the way I think about it, we provide an essential service that's needed regardless of the party in power … We continue to believe that both parties want a strong and growing Texas.”

When it came to state headwinds, Martin voiced concern about California, where Sempra subsidiaries San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Co. face financial risk as a result of ongoing uncertainty in the state regarding wildfire liability.

The California legislature's failure to pass a bill in its last session to reduce the effects of wildfire liabilities on SDG&E and other utilities is a “significant adverse credit development,” Fitch Ratings said in a September report.

As Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Southern California Edison's CEOs did during their own third-quarter earnings calls, Martin stressed the need for the California legislature to pass legislation on wildfire liability reform. The credit downgrades will “constrain future utility service,” he said, and the situation “clearly underscores that inaction doesn't work, and that there's a real need for a timely solution.”

In its third-quarter earnings filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Sempra noted that the scope of potential damages caused by the January 2025 Eaton fire “could materially reduce or exhaust the Wildfire Fund. Edison stated that it is currently unable to reasonably estimate a range of potential losses associated with the Eaton fire.”

“Accordingly, SDG&E is unable to estimate a range of potential loss resulting from any reduction in available coverage from the Wildfire Fund,” the filing continued.

Martin also noted that the California Public Utilities Commission last week issued a proposed decision denying Sempra’s petition for modification of a 2024 general rate case decision, in which Sempra alleges that CPUC made an error in not including an associated revenue requirement.

Sempra aims to have CPUC correct the error so that its California utilities can collect $188 million in associated revenue in 2027, said CFO Karen Sedgwick during the earnings call.

“This is just a 2027 issue because we have a new [general rate case] starting rates in January of 2028, so that won't carry over,” Sedgwick said. “It's a one-year issue. We think it's a mistake. We think it gets fixed. If for any reason it couldn't, we're going to try to mitigate that.”

Martin said the CPUC’s decision was “proposed … It's not final. There's a series of regulatory avenues that we will appeal to try to get the right answer.”