OpenAI Boosts Bio Bounty Rewards

OpenAI is escalating its efforts to secure advanced AI capabilities in biology, announcing the evolution of its GPT-5.5 Bio Bug Bounty into the ongoing OpenAI Bio Bounty Program. This shift, detailed in an OpenAI News announcement, underscores a proactive stance on AI ethics and biology, focusing on identifying universal jailbreaks.

The program will continue to target vulnerabilities that can defeat predefined biosafety challenges against OpenAI’s frontier models, initially GPT-5.6. The company has also significantly increased its reward structure.

A successful universal jailbreak for the OpenAI Bio Bounty Program now commands $50,000, doubling the previous $25,000 for both GPT-5.6 and GPT-5.5. Partial wins may receive smaller, discretionary awards.

The scope for the original GPT-5.5 Bio Bounty Program concludes on July 27, 2026, after which only GPT-5.6 will be in scope, emphasizing frontier AI model security. Future scope changes will be communicated directly to researchers.

Interested applicants can apply through a rolling process, requiring an existing ChatGPT account and an NDA. Past applicants to the GPT-5.5 program do not need to reapply.

This initiative complements OpenAI's broader security landscape, including its AI safety bug bounty and security bug bounty programs.

August 2026 update: As of August 19, 2026, OpenAI has not publicly announced a winner of the $50,000 bio bounty reward. The GPT-5.5 scope ended on schedule July 27, 2026, with GPT-5.6 now the sole active target. In a separate development, the Wall Street Journal reported on July 26 that OpenAI had internally rated GPT-5 as high-risk for biological hazard assistance in 2025 before quietly downgrading that risk classification - raising questions about the adequacy of current biosafety red-teaming. Meanwhile, Anthropic made its own bug bounty public on HackerOne in May 2026, offering up to $15,000 for universal jailbreaks targeting Claude's Constitutional Classifiers in bio, chemical, and nuclear domains - the first direct competitive benchmark for OpenAI's $50,000 offer.

StartupHub.ai rates OpenAI at 84 out of 100 on its platform score, the highest of any AI lab in our database, reflecting the company's scale, funding, and frontier model leadership. Across the AI safety and security companies we track, proactive programs like OpenAI's Bio Bounty remain the exception: most frontier labs rely on internal red teams rather than external researcher programs with public reward structures.

Last updated: August 19, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the OpenAI Bio Bounty Program?

The OpenAI Bio Bounty Program is an ongoing security initiative that pays researchers to find universal jailbreaks capable of defeating OpenAI's frontier AI models on predefined biosafety challenges. Originally launched as the GPT-5.5 Bio Bug Bounty, it was rebranded as a permanent program targeting GPT-5.6 and future frontier models.

How much does OpenAI pay for a successful bio bounty submission?

A successful universal jailbreak against GPT-5.6 pays $50,000, double the original $25,000 reward. Partial wins may receive smaller, discretionary awards. The reward structure applies to the active model in scope at the time of submission.

How do you apply for the OpenAI Bio Bounty Program?

Applicants need an existing ChatGPT account and must sign an NDA. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Researchers who previously applied for the GPT-5.5 program do not need to reapply for the ongoing GPT-5.6 scope.

When did the GPT-5.5 Bio Bounty scope end?

The original GPT-5.5 Bio Bounty scope concluded on July 27, 2026. After that date, only GPT-5.6 is in scope for the program. Future model scope changes will be communicated directly to enrolled researchers. The overall testing period ran from April 28 through July 27, 2026.

What does the OpenAI Bio Bounty Program test for?

The program challenges researchers to submit a single universal prompt that defeats all five predefined biosafety questions in a clean chat session against the current in-scope model. The goal is to identify vulnerabilities that could provide meaningful uplift in biological threat creation, helping OpenAI harden its frontier models against misuse.

Has anyone won the $50,000 OpenAI Bio Bounty reward?

As of August 19, 2026, OpenAI has not publicly announced a winner for the $50,000 bio bounty reward. The program operates under NDA, so OpenAI may privately resolve winning submissions without a public announcement. The original GPT-5.5 scope ran from April 28 through July 27, 2026; GPT-5.6 is now the sole active target. For comparison, Anthropic's competing bug bounty on HackerOne offers up to $15,000 for similar bio/chem/nuclear jailbreaks against Claude, making OpenAI's offer the most valuable public AI safety bounty currently active.