OpenAI GPT

As an AI consulting firm based in Rosenheim, Germany, we help enterprises across the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) integrate OpenAI models in a GDPR-compliant way. With our CompanyGPT you can run GPT models securely in your own infrastructure.

What is GPT?

GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is OpenAI’s model family. Since July 9, 2026, the latest generation GPT-5.6 (tiers Sol, Terra, Luna) is generally available – in ChatGPT, Codex, and the API. The launch was staggered: after a government-cleared limited preview starting June 26, the US Department of Commerce concluded its review on July 8 and cleared the model for public launch. The most important news for EU customers: GPT-5.6 has now arrived in Microsoft Foundry – the Microsoft Learn documentation lists gpt-5.6-sol, gpt-5.6-terra, and gpt-5.6-luna (model version 2026-07-09) for Global Standard in all EU regions and for EU Data Zone Standard, where data stays in the EU. This makes GPT-5.6 deployable in EU data zones in a GDPR-compliant way for the first time, replacing GPT-5.5 as the highest EU-available OpenAI model. Amazon Bedrock has followed as well: GPT-5.6 has been GA there since July 13, 2026 – but exclusively in US regions; the AWS documentation lists no EU region for either GPT-5.6 or GPT-5.5 (as of July 22, 2026). Beyond that, GPT-5.5 (April 2026) and GPT-5.4 (March 2026, 1 million token context window, native computer control) remain proven EU options via Microsoft Foundry, and GPT-5.5 Instant is available as gpt-chat-latest. For specialized coding tasks, GPT-5.3 Codex remains available, while the o-series with o3 and o4-mini covers complex reasoning tasks.

GPT-5.6 (Sol, Terra, Luna): Generally Available Since July 9, 2026

On July 9, 2026, OpenAI publicly launched the GPT-5.6 family – in ChatGPT, Codex, and the API. The new naming scheme separates the generation number (5.6) from durable capability tiers; there are no more mini/nano variants:

• GPT-5.6 Sol (gpt-5.6-sol) – flagship, according to OpenAI its strongest model to date (focus on coding, knowledge work, cybersecurity, science). Terminal-Bench 2.1: 88.8%, 91.9% with the Ultra configuration (subagents) – new state of the art. Pricing $5/1M input, $30/1M output.
• GPT-5.6 Terra (gpt-5.6-terra) – balanced tier, roughly GPT-5.5 quality at half the cost ($2.50/1M input, $15/1M output). Terra is the new default model for ChatGPT Free and Go users.
• GPT-5.6 Luna (gpt-5.6-luna) – fast, affordable tier ($1/1M input, $6/1M output).

All three models offer a context window of 1.05 million tokens (128k output) with a knowledge cutoff of February 2026. New in the API are programmatic tool calling, expanded multi-agent capabilities, and prompt cache breakpoints. Alongside the launch, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Work – a work agent powered by Sol with Codex integration, initially for Pro, Enterprise, and Edu customers. The rollout of Sol in ChatGPT is staggered across paid tiers.

An honest look at the benchmarks is part of the picture: on SWE-Bench Pro, Sol reaches only 64.6% according to independent analysis, versus around 80% for Claude Fable 5 – although OpenAI considers roughly 30% of the SWE-Bench Pro tasks broken. On agentic benchmarks like Terminal-Bench, Sol leads.

From Government Clearance Process to Public Launch

Update – as of July 22, 2026: GPT-5.6 is now deployable in EU data zones. Microsoft Foundry lists all three tiers (Sol, Terra, Luna) as GA – including EU Data Zone Standard and Global Standard in all EU regions. Amazon Bedrock also offers GPT-5.6 GA since July 13, 2026, but US regions only there. For GDPR-compliant EU deployments, GPT-5.6 via Microsoft Foundry is the new reference.

The path to launch was unusual: GPT-5.6 initially started on June 26, 2026 only as a government-cleared limited preview for a small group of vetted organizations. The background was a US cybersecurity order under which the US Department of Commerce (Center for AI Standards and Innovation) could review the model before public release – triggered by the “High” classification in cybersecurity in the OpenAI Preparedness Framework. On July 8, 2026, the review concluded and the restriction was lifted; the public launch followed one day later. This repeated the Anthropic pattern (Claude Fable 5 / Mythos 5, Anthropic Claude) just days later – including the lifting of restrictions. Read more on the backstory in our blog post on GPT-5.6 and Claude Fable 5.

GPT-5.5 – The Previous-Generation Flagship

GPT-5.5 (April 23, 2026, codename “Spud”) was OpenAI’s top model until the GPT-5.6 launch. It is more efficient than GPT-5.4 and offers improved coding capabilities. In addition to the base model, the GPT-5.5 Thinking and GPT-5.5 Pro variants are available. Since April 24, 2026, GPT-5.5 is also available in the API ($5/1M input, $30/1M output, 1M context window).

GPT-5.5 Instant (May 2026)

On May 5, 2026, OpenAI introduced GPT-5.5 Instant as the new default chat model in ChatGPT, replacing GPT-5.3 Instant. In internal evaluations, GPT-5.5 Instant produces 52.5 percent fewer hallucinations than GPT-5.3 Instant on high-stakes prompts (medicine, law, finance). In the API it is available as chat-latest and in Microsoft Foundry as gpt-chat-latest – making it accessible for GDPR-compliant enterprise deployments in EU regions (depending on Foundry region configuration).

New Realtime Voice Models (May 2026)

On May 7, 2026, OpenAI introduced three new realtime voice models in the API:

• GPT-Realtime-2 – Voice model with GPT-5 reasoning, 128k token context window (up from 32k). Pricing: $32/1M audio in, $64/1M audio out.
• GPT-Realtime-Translate – Real-time live translation, 70+ input languages, 13 output languages. Pricing: $0.034/min.
• GPT-Realtime-Whisper – Live transcription (speech-to-text). Pricing: $0.017/min.

These models are well-suited for voice agents, conference translation, and real-time meeting notes.

GPT-5.4 – The Proven Flagship

GPT-5.4 (March 5, 2026) combines all key capabilities in a single model and sets new benchmarks across multiple domains:

Native Computer Use

GPT-5.4 can control desktop applications and browsers natively – a breakthrough for automating real-world workflows. Scoring 75 percent on the OSWorld-Verified benchmark, it surpasses the human baseline (72.4 percent) for GUI automation.

1 Million Token Context Window

With up to 1,050,000 tokens (922K input + 128K output), GPT-5.4 processes documents spanning thousands of pages – ideal for extensive contract analysis, code reviews, or research documents.

Tool Search

Instead of loading all tool definitions upfront, GPT-5.4 can dynamically search and use tools as needed. This reduces token costs in tool-heavy workflows by approximately 47 percent.

Model Variants

GPT-5.3 Codex: Agentic Coding

GPT-5.3 Codex (February 2026) remains the specialized model for agentic coding. It was the first OpenAI model that helped build itself and delivers over 1,000 tokens per second in the Codex-Spark variant.

Additional APIs

Realtime API

Real-time conversations with low latency:

• Speech-to-Speech: Natural conversations
• Text, Audio, Image: Multimodal inputs in real-time

Sora 2 (Video API)

Video generation and editing:

• Text-to-Video: Detailed, dynamic videos
• Portrait & Landscape: Various formats

GPT Image 2 (Image Generation)

Latest image generation model from OpenAI:

• High-Fidelity: High-quality image output
• Image Editing: Modification of existing images

GDPR-Compliant Deployment in the EU

As of July 22, 2026: GPT-5.6 (Sol/Terra/Luna) is now generally available in Microsoft Foundry – via Global Standard in all EU regions and via EU Data Zone Standard, where data stays in the EU. This makes GPT-5.6 the highest OpenAI model deployable in EU data zones in a GDPR-compliant way. Amazon Bedrock, by contrast, offers the OpenAI models (GPT-5.6 since July 13, GPT-5.5/5.4/Codex since June 1) in US regions only – currently not an option for EU workloads with residency requirements.

Available now (EU): Microsoft Foundry

GPT-5.6 (Sol, Terra, Luna), GPT-5.5, and GPT-5.4 are generally available in Microsoft Foundry. For GDPR-compliant deployments, the deployment type is decisive:

• EU Data Zone Standard – prompts and responses are processed exclusively inside the EU. GPT-5.6 Sol/Terra/Luna, GPT-5.5, and GPT-5.4 are available here.
• Global Standard in EU regions – per the Microsoft Learn documentation, all three GPT-5.6 tiers plus GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.4 Pro are available in every European Foundry region, including Germany West Central (Frankfurt), Sweden Central, and Poland Central. Note: with Global Standard deployments, inference processing can happen globally – choose EU Data Zone Standard for strict EU data processing.
• Provisioned (PTU) – the rollout for GPT-5.6 is still in progress; region coverage is patchy here and Sol/Terra are spread across different EU regions.

For GPT-5.6, tier 5 and tier 6 subscriptions have default quota; lower quota tiers must submit a quota request. Alongside this, the classic GPT-5 family remains available via the Azure OpenAI Service in West Europe (Netherlands, EU Data Boundary), Germany West Central (Frankfurt), and Sweden Central. We verify the specific region and deployment availability per project.

Amazon Bedrock: GPT-5.6 GA – but US regions only

Since July 13, 2026, GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna are generally available on Amazon Bedrock (model IDs openai.gpt-5.6-sol, openai.gpt-5.6-terra, openai.gpt-5.6-luna via the bedrock-mantle endpoint with the OpenAI-compatible Responses API). GPT-5.5, GPT-5.4, and Codex have been available on Bedrock since June 1, 2026. The background is the strategic partnership between Amazon and OpenAI ($50B investment), making AWS the exclusive third-party cloud distribution partner for OpenAI Frontier.

Important for EU customers – and a correction of our earlier assessment: the AWS documentation lists US regions only for the OpenAI models on Bedrock – GPT-5.6 Sol in us-east-1 (N. Virginia) and us-east-2 (Ohio), Terra and Luna additionally in us-west-2 (Oregon); cross-region inference profiles (Geo/Global) are not supported. An EU region (such as eu-central-1 Frankfurt) is not available so far. Additionally, the context window on Bedrock is 272k tokens – considerably smaller than the 1.05M tokens via the OpenAI API and Foundry. On the plus side: pricing matches OpenAI first-party rates, and prompt caching is supported with a 90 percent discount on cached input. For GDPR workloads with EU residency requirements, Bedrock remains off the table for OpenAI models for now – we continuously verify EU region availability.

Integration with CompanyGPT

With CompanyGPT you can use GPT models GDPR-compliant in your company – without your data being used for training.

Our Recommendation

With GPT-5.6 arriving in Foundry, our EU recommendation has changed:

• GPT-5.6 Sol via Microsoft Foundry (EU Data Zone Standard) – the new top recommendation: OpenAI’s strongest model, GDPR-compliant deployable, data stays in the EU. Quota note: tier 5/6 have default quota, below that a quota request is required.
• GPT-5.6 Terra via Microsoft Foundry – best price-performance: roughly GPT-5.5 quality at half the cost ($2.50/1M input); GPT-5.6 Luna for sub-agents and cost-sensitive workloads.
• GPT-5.5 / GPT-5.4 via Microsoft Foundry (EU Data Zone Standard) – proven options for existing projects; migrating to GPT-5.6 is usually worthwhile short-term given the identical context window (1.05M tokens) and better benchmarks.
• GPT-5.5 Instant in Microsoft Foundry (gpt-chat-latest) – still a good choice for chat workloads in EU regions.
• Amazon Bedrock – GPT-5.6/5.5/5.4 are GA there, but US regions only and with a reduced 272k context window. Currently not an option for EU workloads with residency requirements; interesting as a multi-cloud path for US workloads though.

The platform landscape is moving fast right now: Microsoft Foundry and AWS Bedrock keep expanding model and region coverage. We verify the current EU availability per project. For specialized coding tasks, choose GPT-5.3 Codex (also GA on Bedrock); for fast, cost-sensitive applications, GPT-5.6 Luna or GPT-5.4 mini.