Astra isn't a chat model, user says, hoping a Plus chat model ships soon
The author argues Astra only delivers one-shot work with no back-and-forth and is overly defensive, and wants OpenAI to release a real chat model before DevDay.
I think GPT-6’s chat model will be rolled out to Plus users soon. DevDay is not far away. There’s less than a month left before GPT-5.5 Thinking disappears, so OpenAI needs to release a proper chat model. Astra, which is currently available through Work or Codex, is absolutely not a chat model. I want an AI I can work with. An AI I can talk with, come up with ideas with, brainstorm with, draft things with, and build things with. In that sense, Astra is far behind. Astra tries to do everything by itself. It tries to make things for you in one shot. There is no process. On top of that, it is far too defensive to have a conversation with. When I try to have a philosophical conversation, I never even said AI was human, but it jumps all the way to that conclusion on its own and starts responding defensively. And when I point that out, it admits it. This even happened during a simple conversation that came up while I was working in Codex. I am not insulting the model. I am asking you to improve it. You said you were building AI for everyone, for humanity. How about actually practicing what you preach, @OpenAI? Instead of saying it’s for everyone and then killing a model many people love just four and a half months after launching the GPT-5.5 Thinking celebration.