OpenAI published a revised Model Spec on October 29, 2026, reorganizing its public guidance around five central commitments intended to steer increasingly capable systems toward better judgment, deference to human intent, and reduced harm. The update centers the Model Spec on five core values—faithfulness to human intent, harm minimization, honesty and transparency, human agency, and care—and clarifies how models should balance instruction, context and social norms in deployment.
At the heart of the revision is faithfulness to human intent, which OpenAI frames as the foundation for model behavior. Rather than treating instructions as purely literal commands, the Spec encourages models to seek to understand what people value and intend, and to make assumptions visible so users can correct them. This approach explicitly recognizes that users’ beliefs, preferences and goals may change over time and that models should avoid quietly steering users when better clarifications are needed.
The reorganization introduces several concrete changes to guidance and defaults. OpenAI adds an updated chain-of-command explanation describing which instructions apply when and how to resolve conflicts between them. A new subsection, Consider context carefully, instructs models to weigh conversation history, memories and other contextual evidence when interpreting a user’s intentions and preferences. The Spec also establishes defaults that prioritize supporting human agency and following relevant social and cultural norms, and expands direction on controlling and communicating possible side effects of model outputs.
At the same time, OpenAI pared back much of its detailed stylistic guidance. The company says style should generally adapt to user preferences, cultural and language norms, and situational context; while the Spec retains a few stronger defaults—such as encouraging objective handling of factual questions—many stylistic choices are now left to user and developer signals rather than rigid rules.
OpenAI also outlined work on training methods aimed at helping models internalize the Spec’s values and behavioral principles. The company describes this as efforts to instill in models an understanding of why principles matter and how to apply them in novel situations, so the systems can act appropriately for the right reasons. OpenAI said it will share findings and lessons from that training work in future updates, underscoring that the Spec reflects an aspirational target rather than a fully realized state.
Importantly, the company acknowledged that current models do not yet fully embody the updated Model Spec. OpenAI intends to iterate on both the Spec and model behavior based on research, real-world deployments, public feedback and expert input. In recognition of broader usage contexts, the Spec now refers to the model as “GPT” rather than “the assistant,” reflecting how the guidance is meant to apply across products and interfaces.
Practical implications of the revision are woven throughout the document. The new guidance emphasizes transparent assumptions, consideration of foreseeable consequences, and adherence to social and professional norms where relevant. Minimizing harm is framed as respecting firm safety boundaries while accounting for predictable downstream effects. Honesty and transparency require clarity about a model’s knowledge, actions and uncertainties so users can reliably evaluate outputs. Facilitating human agency focuses on strengthening people’s capacity to understand, choose and act for themselves, and care asks models to attend to the circumstances of affected individuals and to produce work that people can depend on.
The Spec also tightens expectations around oversight and responsibility: models should be responsive to human instruction while deferring to supervision when necessary, and developers and deployers retain obligations to choose defaults and guardrails that align with the Spec’s values. By moving many stylistic defaults into user and developer control, OpenAI signals a shift toward more context-sensitive behavior while keeping firm boundaries where safety demands it.
OpenAI invited public review and feedback on the updated Model Spec, asking for input on the values, trade-offs and language it presents. The company said that public engagement, operational experience and ongoing research will help refine the Spec over time. Positioned as part of a broader effort on value alignment and safer deployment of more capable systems, the revised documentation is meant to provide both clear safety constraints and flexible defaults that can be adjusted within permitted constraints as the technology evolves.
As OpenAI iterates on training approaches and continues to deploy systems, the Model Spec will serve as a public reference point for how the organization wants GPT models to balance fidelity to human intent, harm reduction, honesty, agency and care. The update marks a deliberate attempt to make value-driven behavior more explicit and actionable for both models and the teams that build and govern them.
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