Astra, Where Have You Been My Whole Life?
Techstrong.ai, Friday, September 11th, 2026
A Techstrong editor's first-day impressions of OpenAI's Astra model as a research collaborator, plus criticism of its confusing rollout.
The author describes using OpenAI's newly available Astra in ChatGPT to research Techstrong's special report, After Mythos: The Great Cybersecurity Repricing.
Astra impressed by following changes in direction, keeping distinctions straight and backing conclusions with evidence without confusing chronology and causation.
The author stresses human judgment remained central and notes mixed independent reviews, including Artificial Analysis finding it tied GPT-5.6 Sol on its Intelligence Index.
The piece also criticizes a messy rollout that left paying subscribers unsure where and when they could access it.