OpenAI AI Updates: September 24, 2026

1. ChatGPT Voice Now Runs on GPT-6 and Reaches Email, Calendar, and Slack

OpenAI. ChatGPT Voice moved onto the GPT-6 Astra, Sol, and Luna models and gained plugin access to email, calendar, and Slack, so spoken requests can now book appointments, send mail, or kick off a build. TechCrunch reports the agentic Work tab is available to Pro and Plus users on mobile. This is the first time voice has been wired to the same tool surface as the text product rather than a reduced subset. Source

2. MentalHealthBench Scores Responses Across Realistic Mental Health Conversations

OpenAI. OpenAI published MentalHealthBench, an expert-informed benchmark for evaluating whether model responses are both helpful and safe across realistic mental health conversations. It targets a category that existing safety evals handle as a refusal question rather than a response-quality question. Source

3. Ukraine Gets Access to the Daybreak Cyber Program for Civilian Infrastructure Defense

OpenAI. OpenAI extended its Daybreak cyber program to the Government of Ukraine to support defense of civilian infrastructure. Daybreak is OpenAI’s gated access tier for cyber-capable model use, and this is the program’s first publicly named government deployment in an active conflict. Source

4. Altman Addressed the UN Security Council on Human Control of AI

OpenAI. OpenAI published Sam Altman’s remarks to the United Nations Security Council covering AI safety, human control, and international cooperation. The appearance lands days after the UN scientific panel’s first thematic report concluded nobody can currently guarantee humans stay in control of AI agents. Source

5. ChatGPT Ads Expanded Into Southeast Asia and Taiwan

OpenAI. ChatGPT Ads is now open to eligible businesses in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, bringing the advertising product to more than 60 countries. The rollout pace suggests ads are being treated as core monetization rather than an experiment. Source

6. Patreon Co-Founder Sam Yam Will Lead a New Creator Product Division

OpenAI. OpenAI hired Patreon co-founder Sam Yam to run a newly created Creator Product division, and he is bringing two Patreon executives with him after 13 years at the company. The Decoder reports a first look at the division’s tooling could arrive at OpenAI DevDay next week. Source

7. Codex CLI Shipped 0.156.1

OpenAI. The Codex CLI released version 0.156.1 as a patch on the 0.156 line. Source