Speculation grows that OpenAI may preview Bel, Astra's successor
The author argues OpenAI has dropped the o-series naming but, to answer Opus 5.5, may release Bel, the successor to Astra, either in full or as a preview.
Some people speculate that we’ll see a new "o" model featuring the "o" agent. We recall that, back in the day, the models were named o3, o4, and so on. I’m not sure I agree with that. OpenAI has generally moved away from "o" designations in its naming conventions, switching instead to names like Sol, Astra, etc. On the other hand, it does seem odd that their always-on agent is named "o". However, considering Tibo’s posts and the need to respond to Opus 5.5, what I can easily imagine is a preview of "Bel" - the successor to Astra - either as a full release or just a preview. OpenAI wants to maintain its lead.
This post quotes another post: “Observation: Tibo keeps hinting at "o" as an Astra update may be near”