Speculation: OpenAI is teasing two things, and neither is GPT-6.1
The author thinks OpenAI is both simplifying the app UI and holding back a demo that 'blew them away', but doubts it is a big model like GPT-6.1 Astra, guessing instead at smaller Chat-focused variants built around usability, price and speed.
OpenAI seems to be hyping two things at the same time: → A broader simplification of the app, basically UI / UX cleanup for everyone. → Something that apparently “blew them away” when they saw the demo. I really don’t think this is some monster model like GPT-6.1 Astra suddenly showing up to punch Anthropic in the face. If models are involved, my guess is they’re smaller, more Chat-focused variants or something along those lines. OpenAI doesn’t exactly look like it has infinite compute sitting around right now. What they do seem to be doing is attacking from the side instead: usability, price, speed, and making the overall product less annoying to use.