RUNNING STORY·DAY 3

OpenAI pushes GPT-6 Astra into law firms with a 230-million-document search index

Appeared in 3 briefings over 13 days, Sep 05 to Sep 18. 2 entries carried a new angle, marked with a diamond; the rest restated what had already been reported.

What changed, and when

SEP 18 2026

OpenAI pushes GPT-6 Astra into law firms with a 230-million-document search index

OpenAI launched Astra for Law, a version of GPT-6 Astra configured specifically for legal work, with custom instructions for legal analysis and writing plus a new Legal Search Index covering U.S. case law, statutes, regulations, court rules and administrative decisions across more than 230 million URLs — built partly on CourtListener data from the nonprofit Free Law Project. Early partners named in OpenAI's announcement include Sullivan & Cromwell, Ropes & Gray and Cooley, alongside legal-AI platforms Harvey and Legora integrating via API. OpenAI cited a 54% score on the Vals AI Legal Research Bench versus 38.7% for base GPT-6 with web search — a real jump, though independent verification is still early.

Source: abajournal.com/news/article/openai-introduces-new-ai-model-…

Full brief, SEP 18 2026

SEP 07 2026

Scrutiny catches up with the Astra launch

ZDNET published "OpenAI's new Astra model is finally here — why safety experts are worried," and the viral clip of Astra operating a computer at superhuman speed was community fact-checked: it was a pre-planned, batched sequence of clicks and keypresses rather than live real-time control.

Source: openai.com/index/safety-overview-gpt-6-astra

Full brief, SEP 07 2026

SEP 05 2026

OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra

Its first broadly deployed model rated "Critical" for cybersecurity can autonomously find and exploit unknown vulnerabilities. OpenAI also reports reduced chain-of-thought monitorability.

Source: openai.com/index/safety-overview-gpt-6-astra

Full brief, SEP 05 2026