# The most powerful AI models are starting to look less like products and more like passes into a closed club.

*Published on: Fri, 26 Jun 2026 19:45:06 GMT*

The most powerful AI models are starting to look less like products and more like passes into a closed club.

Publicly, we hear: “safety,” “staged rollout,” “available soon.”

In practice: some people get GPT-5.6 now, while everyone else waits for permission.

That is a dangerous precedent.

Because the real divide won’t be between people who use AI and people who don’t.

It will be between those who got the best AI in time — and those who got it after the game had already started.

---
[Back to home](https://alexgetman.com/) | [Read article](https://alexgetman.com/posts/10/the-most-powerful-ai-models-are-starting-to-look-less-like/)