Tracker
AI model releases 2026
Every AI model launch, preview and reported plan from our reporting, newest first, with prices and the sourced story behind each entry. Updated with every edition.
Prices and claims are what each story reports; a company’s own benchmark stays a company claim. The claim check compares each maker’s main claim with an independent test that our story cites. Released models so far: 6 backed, 9 mixed, 12 not checked yet.
Filter the list
Showing 14 entries of 38. Show all
October 2026
Pre-training finished: 2.8 trillion parameters, 80 billion active per token. Now in post-training, with no release date. Microsoft says it beats every open-weight model it tested and plans to license the weights to trusted partners.
Microsoft finishes pre-training its 2.8T MAI-Base-2 modelNow open to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the Gemini app and in Search, and to developers on the paid Gemini API. Free users and AI Plus don’t get it yet.
Claim check: MixedArtificial Analysis scores it 53, eighth of 216 models, with Claude Opus 5.5 ahead. Google’s claim of clearer answers is untested.
Price $2 / $10 per million input / output tokens until November 30, then $4 / $20
Google opens Gemini 4 Argon to paying users and developers Try it yourself: who can use it, the price, an example promptMeta’s first frontier models, built for agents on long tasks. Muse Wonder is in the Meta Model API and Muse Code; Muse Wonder Full only in Muse Code’s paid plans. Meta says Wonder will soon power its Muse app.
Claim check: MixedArtificial Analysis scores Wonder Full 56, two points behind Claude Opus 5.5, but weaker on facts. Meta’s “state-of-the-art” agent results are its own tests.
Price $4 / $20 per million input / output tokens (Muse Wonder)
Meta’s Muse Wonder models close in on the AI frontier Try it yourself: who can use it, the price, an example promptAnthropic’s new small model, the first Haiku with effort controls. In the Claude apps, Claude Code, the API and the big clouds.
Claim check: BackedArtificial Analysis scores it 43 on its Intelligence Index, second of 182 models in its class, though it uses many tokens. Anthropic’s benchmark gains are its own.
Price $0.10 / $0.50 per million input / output tokens up to 100K tokens; $0.50 / $2.50 above
Anthropic’s Haiku 5.5 cuts small-model prices by 90% Try it yourself: who can use it, the price, an example promptNow in ChatGPT’s Chat tab with Intelligent UI: Sol for Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise from October 7, Luna for Free and Go from October 8.
ChatGPT gets GPT-6 and answers with charts and buttons Try it yourself: who can use it, the price, an example prompt
September 2026
Google’s new flagship, for now only for trusted cyber defenders in its Fairwind Program. Google says it leads on 12 of 18 tests and can write up to 1 million tokens at once. No date for a wider release.
Claim check: MixedArtificial Analysis scores it 53, level with GPT-6 Astra and five points behind Claude Opus 5.5, at $1.99 per task.
Price $2 / $10 per million input / output tokens at first, later $4 / $20
Google’s Gemini 4 Argon goes to cyber defenders firstAn upgrade to GPT-6 Sol. OpenAI says it nearly matches GPT-6 Astra on coding, computer use and office work at a fifth of Astra’s token prices.
Claim check: BackedArtificial Analysis scores it 52, against 53 for GPT-6 Astra, at $0.72 per task instead of $3.26.
Price $2 / $10 per million input / output tokens; cached input $0.10
Independent test puts GPT-6.1 Sol a point behind AstraThe second Claude 5.5 model. Anthropic says it is more than 30% faster than Sonnet 5 and costs up to 30% less per task.
Claim check: MixedArtificial Analysis puts it two points behind Opus 5.5. At maximum effort it lists $5.46 per task (October 8), about 7% more than Sonnet 5; Anthropic’s savings figures refer mostly to lower effort settings.
Price $2 / $10 per million input / output tokens
Anthropic’s Sonnet 5.5 nears Opus at half the token pricePlanned for release within weeks; cancelled after internal tests, because it fell short on staying within scope and on how it reports its work.
OpenAI scrapped GPT-6.1 Astra after it fell short on safetyHas entered post-training; DeepMind’s new chief wants an early version out “much earlier” than the end of the year. No date given.
Google’s Gemini 4 has entered post-trainingTwo cheaper tiers below GPT-6 Astra in the API. OpenAI’s own tables put Sol ahead of Claude Opus 5 on AutomationBench.
Claim check: MixedArtificial Analysis finds them about level with GPT-5.6, at roughly half the cost per task: cheaper, not smarter.
Price $2 (Sol) and $0.10 (Luna) per million input tokens, half of GPT-5.6’s prices
OpenAI’s GPT-6 Sol and Luna cut API prices in halfAnthropic says it performs like its more expensive Fable 5.1 on most work.
Claim check: BackedArtificial Analysis ranked it first of the 206 models it tracked at launch, with 58 points. Most other figures are Anthropic’s.
Price $4 per million input tokens, $20 per million output tokens, 20% below the previous price
Claude Opus 5.5 cuts token prices by 20%Available through Amazon Bedrock APIs with a large context window; buyers should review retention and permission settings.
GPT-6 Astra is now on Amazon BedrockBetter computer-use skills, and OpenAI’s first widely released model with a “Critical” cyber rating.
Claim check: Not checked yet
GPT-6 Astra is powerful enough to need stricter cyber rules
How this tracker works
An entry appears when one of our stories covers a model launch, a preview, a reported plan, or a model becoming available on a new platform. A claim is Backed when an outside test supports it, Mixed when it holds only in part or only in some settings, and Disputed when an outside test contradicts it. The date is the one the story gives; when a story gives none, it is the story’s own date. We add entries with each edition and correct them under the story when a fact changes.
Reusing this list: you may quote it with a link to this page. Facts belong to the sources each story cites.