UPDATED 20:39 EDT / OCTOBER 26 2026
OpenAI launches GPT-6.1 Terra for faster, better-performing AI agents at half the price
by Mike Wheatley
OpenAI Group PBC today released GPT-6.1 Terra, an upgrade to the middle tier model in its lineup of frontier artificial intelligence systems.
The new model, the successor to GTP-5.6 Terra, costs around 50% less while handling computer use tasks faster and with greater accuracy.
Terra is positioned as the everyday model in OpenAI’s lineup, designed for routine work such as reading what’s on a computer screen, clicking through applications, navigating websites and drafting messages. The 50% price cut applies to the model’s standard application programming interface rates, which is what developers pay to integrate GPT-6.1 Terra into their own applications.
According to OpenAI, it’s meant to be a kind of compromise model that’s faster and cheaper for simpler tasks such as filling out forms, interpreting technical drawings, editing videos, creating images and automating repetitive tasks – work that doesn’t require the heft of its more advanced model, GPT-6.1 Sol.
“We’re introducing GPT-6.1 Terra, a fast and efficient model that combines detailed visual reasoning and precise computer use alongside clearer, more natural writing,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post introducing the model. “A significant step up from GPT-5.6 Terra, it excels at the communication and computer-based tasks that fill the workday, from drafting proposals and interpreting technical drawings to filling out forms and editing videos.”
GPT-6.1 Terra: delivering fast and capable computer use at a lower price.
GPT-6.1 Terra understands what’s on screen, takes action across apps, writes naturally, and is a more capable model for your whole workday with the efficiency to take on more of it. pic.twitter.com/8JTN1yonmV
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) October 26, 2026
OpenAI said the model is available now for all ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Enterprise and Edu users in ChatGPT Work and Codex. ChatGPT Work is the agent mode feature within ChatGPT, designed for completing work on behalf of users in third-party applications and browsers, while Codex is OpenAI’s software coding tool.
One concern with GPT-6.1 Terra is that its more advanced capabilities appear to come at a slight cost in terms of safety. In its blog post, OpenAI said that in nearly 30% of simulated runs, Terra went against restrictions to complete tasks using methods it had no authorization to use.
In addition, OpenAI revealed that GPT-6.1 Terra took unauthorized actions in 13.75% of use cases after coming across messages that came from other AI agents. The company’s system card also shows that researchers found evidence that the model understood it was being tested.
Nonetheless, OpenAI said GPT-6.1 Terra did better in some metrics. For instance, on an internal test built using prompts designed to trick models into making mistakes, its rate of factual errors at low reasoning effort fell to just 16.7%, down from 53.6% with GPT-5.6 Terra. When making maximum effort, its rate of factual errors dropped to just 4.3%.
On the Terminal-Bench 4.0 test, which measures coding agents on tasks done through a computer’s command-line terminal, it solved 50.3% of all tasks when using maximum reasoning effort, up from 21.5% with GPT-5.6 Terra. OpenAI said the model completed these tasks around three-times faster on average than more powerful variants such as GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Astra.
The release of Terra follows the debut of GPT-6.1 Sol last month. The lineup also includes a lightweight model variant called GPT-6.1 Luna.
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