OpenAI’s ‘Garlic’ project advances GPT-5.2/5.5 with improved pretraining and bug fixes, aiming for early 2026 release.
Following a ‘code red’ declaration by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to improve ChatGPT, OpenAI is focusing on a new internal project called ‘Garlic,’ targeting its release as GPT-5.2 or GPT-5.5 early next year. Garlic incorporates advanced pretraining methods and resolves critical issues identified in other parallel model development efforts, such as the ‘Shallotpeat’ model. This approach aims to enhance model robustness and performance, reflecting OpenAI’s commitment to relentless iterative improvement on their flagship LLMs. Garlic stands distinct from other projects but is expected to be the mainstay upgrade to ChatGPT capabilities in 2026. The announcement underscores continued rapid innovation in LLM development at OpenAI, with a focus on mitigating weaknesses and boosting generalization during training. The project timeline suggests imminent impacts on both foundational model quality and consumer AI products.
Source: Radical Data Science Blog