EpochAIPlays has launched a new initiative featuring the AI model GPT-5.6 Sol, which will be playing the video game Slay the Spire, with a launch stream scheduled for Thursday and commentary provided by @AlephNuul. This model, released by OpenAI in July 2026, is noted for its capabilities in handling complex, long-horizon tasks. In a test stream, GPT-5.6 Sol successfully completed the first two levels of the game but is expected to perform below top human players, who can consistently defeat the highest difficulty level, Ascension 20. The event will showcase how AI models like GPT-5.6 Sol navigate the increasing complexity of strategy games, a common benchmark for evaluating AI performance.

AlephNuul: AlephNuul, known as Benjamin Ou, focuses on AI benchmarking through games at EpochAIResearch and shares esoteric LLM evaluations. He provides expert commentary on the EpochAIPlays launch stream involving GPT-5.6 Sol.
GPT-5.6 Sol: GPT-5.6 Sol is OpenAI’s flagship model in the newly released GPT-5.6 series, optimized for complex reasoning, coding, cybersecurity, and long-horizon agentic tasks. It was previewed and launched in July 2026 with emphasis on efficiency and performance over prior frontier models. In this news, the model is being evaluated live on Slay the Spire across multiple difficulty levels, including comparisons to claims about Claude Fable.
EpochAIPlays: EpochAIPlays is an initiative associated with EpochAIResearch dedicated to benchmarking AI models via video game playthroughs and live streams. It launches test streams featuring models like GPT-5.6 Sol to assess real-world agentic performance. The project is directly behind the announcement and Twitch streams testing GPT-5.6 Sol on Slay the Spire.

AI Model Release: OpenAI launched GPT-5.6 Sol in July 2026 as its most capable model yet for agentic workflows and long-horizon tasks.
Game Benchmarking Trend: Strategy games like Slay the Spire are used to test AI models’ ability to handle increasing complexity and decision-making over extended play sessions.