OpenAI launches GPT-Rosalind, a trusted-access reasoning model for life-sciences research
On 17 April 2026 OpenAI released GPT-Rosalind as a research preview. It is a domain-specialised reasoning model for biology, drug discovery and translational medicine, available in ChatGPT, Codex and the API only to vetted organisations through a trusted-access programme, with a free Life Sciences plugin for Codex. An update on 3 June 2026 rebuilt it on GPT-5.5. On 11 September 2026 it left preview for eligible organisations worldwide, with API billing ($5/$25 per 1M tokens) starting 5 October 2026.
Key facts
- Named after Rosalind Franklin; launch partners included Amgen, Moderna, the Allen Institute and Thermo Fisher Scientific; Novo Nordisk partnership announced 14 April 2026
- Launch claims (per press): BixBench pass@1 0.751 vs GPT-5.4 0.732; beat GPT-5.4 on 6 of 11 LABBench2 tasks (largest gain on CloningQA); in a Dyno Therapeutics RNA evaluation its best-of-10 submissions ranked above the 95th percentile of human experts on prediction and ~84th on sequence generation
- Codex Life Sciences research plugin connects models to 50+ scientific tools and data sources (freely available)
- 3 June 2026 update: brings GPT-5.5's agentic coding and tool use; OpenAI says it uses 31% fewer tokens than GPT-5.5; new LabWorkBench eval 63.2% vs GPT-5.5 55.8%; Rosalind Biodefense programme for US government and allied public-health partners
- 11 Sept 2026: out of research preview for eligible organisations globally (ChatGPT, Codex, API); API id gpt-rosalind-research at $5 input / $0.50 cached / $25 output per 1M tokens, billing from 5 Oct 2026
- Access requires organisational eligibility, governance controls and an approved research deployment; ordinary API accounts cannot call it
What happened
OpenAI launched its first model specialised for the life sciences. It is tuned for multi-step work across genomics, protein engineering, medicinal chemistry, literature synthesis and wet-lab troubleshooting, and it runs in Codex with tool connectors. Because of biosecurity concerns, access is gated through a trusted-access programme rather than open API sign-up. The June update moved it onto GPT-5.5, and September brought global availability and published API prices.
Why it matters
It is part of the 2026 race among frontier labs for AI-for-science products (Anthropic's Claude Science, Google's Gemini for Science). It also sets a template for dual-use capability, a strong bio model deployed only to vetted organisations. The benchmark figures above are OpenAI's own and have not been independently replicated.
Changelog
- 2026-09-29: created
Models
- GPT-Rosalind OpenAI · current
Related posts (1)
- OpenAI OpenAI @OpenAI · x · 2026-06-03
Cited as a source by: 2026-04-17-openai-gpt-rosalind
Related events
- Anthropic launches Claude Science, an AI workbench for researchers (beta) ★★★
- Google launches 'Gemini for Science' at I/O 2026: Co-Scientist, AlphaEvolve and ERA become products ★★★
Sources (9)
- officialOpenAI: Introducing GPT-Rosalind for life sciences research
- officialOpenAI: Introducing new capabilities to GPT-Rosalind (June 2026)
- officialOpenAI on X: new capabilities to GPT-Rosalind
- officialOpenAI: GPT-Rosalind product page
- docsOpenAI Help Center: GPT-Rosalind for life sciences research
- pressFierce Biotech: OpenAI launches biotech-specific AI model GPT-Rosalind
- pressEuronews: What to know about GPT-Rosalind
- pressR&D World: OpenAI launches Rosalind Biodefense
- pressTokenCost: GPT-Rosalind pricing $5/$25, billing from October 5
id: 2026-04-17-openai-gpt-rosalind · updated 2026-09-29 · open in the interactive timeline