FrontierThe story, in brief
OpenAI staffer maps out which of GPT-5.6 Sol's five reasoning levels fits which task complexity
GPT-5.6 Sol ships with five reasoning levels. OpenAI just showed how to pick the right one for your task.
The KeyNews take
Why it matters
OpenAI's new reasoning architecture introduces variable compute tiers—a strategic shift toward efficiency-first deployment. Leaders need to understand how to right-size reasoning spend across workloads.
The key facts
4 to knowGPT-5.6 Sol features five reasoning levels: Light, Standard, Advanced, xhigh, Max, and Ultra
Max and Ultra modes deploy multiple sub-agents in parallel
OpenAI recommends starting with lower reasoning levels and scaling only when needed
Vaibhav Srivastav (OpenAI staffer) published task-complexity mapping guidance
Go to the source
The Decoderthe-decoder.com
Publisher excerpt: GPT-5.6 Sol ships with five reasoning levels from "Light" to "xhigh," plus "Max" and "Ultra" modes that deploy multiple sub-agents in parallel. OpenAI's Vaibhav Srivastav recommends starting low and only scaling up when needed.