OpenAI is naming its new AI models Terra and Luna, and crypto noticed
OpenAI said Wednesday it will publicly launch its GPT-5.6 model family this Thursday, expanding access globally after weeks of restricted preview.
The three models are named Sol, Terra and Luna - drawn from the Latin names for the sun, earth and moon, meant to mark capability tiers rather than model generations.
Thursday's public release ends that gated period and puts one of the most capable model families to date into general access, feeding the same AI-infrastructure race that has driven this month's market swings from chip stocks to crypto.
GPT-5.6 spent the past two weeks in a limited preview restricted to about 20 government-approved partners, a rollout OpenAI said was coordinated with the U.S. government over the models' cybersecurity capabilities.
Meanwhile, the naming choice draws amused reactions in crypto circles on social media.
Terra and Luna were the twin tokens at the center of a $40 billion implosion in May 2022, when the TerraUSD stablecoin lost its dollar peg and dragged its sister token LUNA to near zero, wiping out retail holders and triggering a cascade that took down Three Arrows Capital, Celsius and eventually FTX.
The names remain shorthand in crypto for catastrophic failure.