OpenAI Says Terra Makes Computer Use Faster—and Far Cheaper
OpenAI Says Terra Makes Computer Use Faster—and Far Cheaper
OpenAI on Tuesday released GPT-6.1 Terra, a new model aimed squarely at the mundane but valuable tasks of office work: reading invoices, navigating desktop software, interpreting technical drawings and filling out forms.
The company’s central pitch is efficiency. OpenAI said Terra combines visual reasoning, computer use and more natural writing while cutting standard API prices by 50% compared with GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Sol. It said the model scored 15 percentage points above its predecessor on a professional computer-use benchmark at roughly one-third of the cost, and completed tasks more than three times faster than GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol.
The release also reflects the industry’s push to turn chatbots into agents that can operate software, rather than merely answer questions. Sam Altman called the launch “a new era of computer use,” saying the model is broadly capable but that OpenAI is “especially excited” by that shift.
Greg Brockman made the more provocative claim: Terra’s computer use “has crossed a qualitative threshold where it feels faster at using a computer than what i can do unassisted.” That is an executive’s assessment, not an independent benchmark, but it captures the ambition behind the release: AI that can move through everyday applications quickly enough to change how work gets done.
OpenAI says it has paired that push with safety and reliability work. Its internal error-inducing tests showed errors falling from 53.6% for GPT-5.6 Terra to 16.7% for Terra at low reasoning effort; the company also said the model meets its “Critical” cybersecurity threshold and retains GPT-6 Astra’s protections.
For now, Terra is available to Plus, Pro, Enterprise and Edu users through ChatGPT Work and Codex, as well as developers through the API. A separate report framed the debut more cautiously, echoing OpenAI’s claim that the model is “very good at computer use” while attributing the performance case to the company itself.
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