An unannounced OpenAI id, gpt-6-astra-api-priv-ev3, sat in OpenAI's model list for 20 minutes, then came down

An OpenAI model id that has never been announced, gpt-6-astra-api-priv-ev3, appeared in OpenAI's API model list on October 15 and was gone about 20 minutes later. We read it in the history of spullara/models, a public GitHub repo that copies the model lists of the big AI APIs on a schedule. Its 18:21 UTC update added the id to OpenAI's list, between gpt-6-astra and gpt-6-luna. Its 18:41 UTC update took it out. @LuminaBench flagged it at 18:30 UTC.

WHAT IS SOURCED

The id and the 20-minute window, from the repo's two commits (24174ba and 36cd6cf), which we read directly. The repo is a third party's record of what OpenAI's API returned to its own key. It is not our read of OpenAI's API, and OpenAI has said nothing.

WHAT THE NAME SUGGESTS

It reads as a private API build of GPT-6 Astra: "api-priv", then "ev3", which may mean a third evaluation build. That is a reading of the string, not a fact. Nothing in the listing says whether it is a new checkpoint or a test copy of the Astra already on sale.

WHERE ASTRA STANDS

GPT-6 Astra went live on September 3 at $10 / $50 per 1M tokens. Astra Pro and a Fast tier have followed in the catalogs we read. The next version, GPT-6.1 Astra, was planned for October, and the Wall Street Journal reported on September 28 that OpenAI pulled it after it fell short in internal alignment tests. Kalshi opened a market on when Astra 6.1 ships.

WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW

What the model is, whether it has anything to do with the shelved 6.1, and why it came down. Our radar files any gpt-6-astra id under the live GPT-6 Astra, so if this id comes back it will not send a launch alert. We will report it here instead.