OpenAI Launches GPT-5.5 Bio Bug Bounty Program to Test Model Biosafety Risks

OpenAI launched the GPT-5.5 Bio Bug Bounty program on July 9, an external testing initiative focused on identifying potential biosafety risks in its latest model.

The program invites security researchers and biology domain experts to test GPT-5.5 for vulnerabilities that could be misused to create biological threats or provide dangerous biological knowledge. This represents OpenAI’s latest move in frontier AI safety governance.

Bug bounty models have long been established in traditional cybersecurity, but applying them to AI model biosafety assessment is relatively novel. OpenAI is adapting proven security community practices to address the unique risk categories posed by advanced AI.

GPT-5.5, as OpenAI’s previous flagship model, possesses capabilities significant enough to raise concerns about dual-use risks. The bounty program’s focus on the biological domain echoes industry worries that AI-assisted biological design could lower the barrier to creating biological weapons.

This initiative also reflects a shift in AI safety evaluation from purely internal testing toward open crowdsourcing models. Similar approaches have been explored by Anthropic and Google DeepMind, but running them as formal bug bounty programs remains cutting-edge practice.

OpenAI has not yet disclosed specific bounty amounts or evaluation criteria. The program’s effectiveness will depend on security community participation and whether it can uncover biosafety risk vectors not previously identified through internal testing.

Notably, this safety program was announced on the same day as the GPT-5.6 release, suggesting OpenAI is working to strengthen its safety governance narrative alongside pushing model capabilities forward.