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Frontier models

"Frontier models" are the most capable general-purpose AI models available at a given time, such as the top tiers from Anthropic, OpenAI and Google. The term is used in both industry and regulation, and its meaning moves as the state of the art advances.

Follow via RSS Get Frontier models alerts15 stories · updated Oct 9

Fact file

Frontier Model Forum501(c)(6) nonprofit, established 2023

FMF definitionGeneral-purpose; outperforms models in wide use ≥12 months on benchmarks or high-risk capability assessments

EU AI Act threshold> 10^25 FLOPs training compute presumes high-impact capabilities (Art. 51(2))

Example: Anthropic top tierClaude Fable 5.1 ($10/$50 per MTok), Claude Opus 5.5 ($4/$20)

Example: OpenAIGPT-6 Astra ($10/$50 per MTok in the API); GPT-6 Sol and Luna in ChatGPT since Oct 7, 2026

Example: GoogleGemini 4 Argon, announced Sep 30, 2026; limited access via the Fairwind Program; not yet on the Gemini API models page as of Oct 8, 2026

Facts verified Oct 9

Latest on Frontier models

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"Frontier models" are the most capable general-purpose AI models available at a given time, such as the top tiers…

Frontier models: all stories, page 2 — 9to5 AI