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OpenAI has unveiled GPT-5.4-Cyber, a new AI model that may be willing to accept seemingly malicious prompts in the name of cybersecurity. Fortunately, the ChatGPT developer won't let just anyone play with its less restrictive, more freewheeling AI.

Announced via a blog post on Tuesday, GPT-5.4-Cyber is a variant of OpenAI's publicly available GPT-5.4 large language model. According to OpenAI, its frontier AI models such as GPT-5.4 have safeguards against clearly malicious use, making them refuse harmful user requests such as stealing credentials or finding vulnerabilities in code. In contrast, the company's new GPT-5.4-Cyber model is trained to be more lenient, and potentially accept these prompts instead. 

Describing GPT-5.4-Cyber as "cyber-permissive," OpenAI states that this change is to allow the AI to be used for defensive cybersecurity measures, such as helping researchers find vulnerabilities to be addressed.

"We want to empower defenders by giving broad access to frontier capabilities, including models which have been tailor-made for cybersecurity," wrote OpenAI. "This is a version of GPT‑5.4 which lowers the refusal boundary for legitimate cybersecurity work and enables new capabilities for advanced defensive workflows."

Given the potential danger posed by GPT-5.4-Cyber's lowered safeguards, not everyone will be able to immediately dive in to push the AI's arguably flexible ethical limits even further. OpenAI states that it is starting with "limited, iterative deployment to vetted security vendors, organizations, and researchers." As such, only members of its Trusted Access for Cyber⁠ (TAC) program will be given access to GPT-5.4-Cyber at present, and only those at its highest tiers. 

Introduced in February, TAC is a network of users who have been through OpenAI's automated identity verification process, including completing a government ID check. Once approved, users in OpenAI's TAC program are allowed access to versions of its AI models with fewer safeguards, such as GPT‑5.4‑Cyber. OpenAI states that this is intended to enable cybersecurity research, education, and programming. 

Not every TAC-approved user will immediately get their hands on GPT-5.4-Cyber, however. OpenAI states that users who aren't already part of TAC's higher tiers may request access to it, which will require going through further authentication to verify themselves as "legitimate cyber defenders." 

GPT-5.4-Cyber's reveal comes just one week after OpenAI competitor Anthropic announced Project Glasswing. Like TAC, Project Glasswing is an initiative that restricts Anthropic's cybersecurity-focused Claude Mythos Preview AI model to select approved organisations. Claiming that Claude Mythos Preview "has already found thousands of high-severity vulnerabilities," Anthropic stated that Project Glasswing was an effort to ensure its AI model was used for solely defensive cybersecurity purposes.

"Given the rate of AI progress, it will not be long before such capabilities proliferate, potentially beyond actors who are committed to deploying them safely," Anthropic wrote.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

Merry.

JOLLY

Cowardly.

WIMPY

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Sheared.

SHORN

To cut off.

SEVER

To fasten.

BELAY

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

The New Moon is just around the corner, and over the next few nights the Moon will be almost invisible. For keen Moon gazers, this means less, if anything, to spot on its surface. Keep reading to see what's happening tonight.

As of Wednesday, April 15, the Moon phase is Waning Crescent. Tonight, 7% of the moon will be lit up, according to NASA's Daily Moon Guide.

Despite still some Moon on display, the percentage illuminated it too low to be able to spot any features on its surface.

The next Full Moon is predicted to take place on May 1, the first of two in May.

NASA explains that the Moon takes around 29.5 days to complete a full orbit around Earth, moving through eight distinct phases in the process. Although we always see the same side of the Moon, the portion lit by the Sun changes as it travels, creating the familiar cycle of full, partial, and crescent shapes. These changing views are known as the lunar phases, and there are eight:

New Moon - The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter - Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon - The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous - The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) - Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.