On the eve of Astra's launch, the artificial intelligence (AI) industry was thrown into disarray. On the evening of September 3rd, three prominent AI service platforms—ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok—simultaneously suffered widespread service outages. A multitude of users reported being unable to access the models or experiencing failed requests. At this pivotal moment, the official ChatGPT account posted an enigmatic message: 'The stars are about to align.'

In the early hours of Beijing time on September 4th, OpenAI officially introduced GPT-6 Astra. Benchmark tests revealed that Astra delivered astonishing performance in the ARC-AGI-3 test, securing a near-perfect score of 99.9%. Astra boasts a novel contextual mechanism that enables cross-window note retention, allowing users to search for earlier messages and tool outputs. It also facilitates the continued processing of task components, even when some questions remain unresolved. Furthermore, Astra has made significant advancements in reverse engineering and ultra-long task handling. It achieved an 88% success rate in reverse engineering on the first attempt, and this rate soared to 99.2% after a maximum of four attempts. In the MRCR v2 eight-pin retrieval test, Astra maintained high accuracy levels, even when dealing with contexts ranging from 256K to 1M tokens.

However, Astra's capabilities are mirrored in its pricing. The API standard rates for Astra have seen a substantial hike compared to its predecessor model, reflecting the advanced technology and enhanced features it offers.