OpenAI has revised the Model Spec

The assistant is no longer "the assistant". On 29 October 2026 OpenAI published version v2026.10.29 of the Model Spec (the rulebook for how its models ought to behave). The document now calls the model by the name "GPT". The text can be read at model-spec.openai.com, and the changelog sits on GitHub. The licence is CC0 1.0, so the document is public property.

The new version is built on five values: staying faithful to what the person actually intends, keeping harm to a minimum, being honest and transparent, leaving people room to make up their own minds, and looking out for whoever the work affects. Checking for side effects and reporting them is now a user-level principle. A new section titled "Consider context carefully" covers the use of context, memory and personalisation. Most of the detailed style rules, on the other hand, have been cut; from now on the tone is set by the user's preference. The chain of command is unchanged. Root sits at the top, followed in order by System, Developer, User and Guideline.

Mind you, a spec writes down what a model should do, not what it does. Only the model itself will show how far apart the two are.