OpenAI Makes Sol Cheap Enough to Consult on Buying Onions

OpenAI’s price reduction for GPT-5.6 Sol, set to last at least through Nov. 21, reached Cedar Mile Market before the morning produce delivery. The store’s self-checkout contractor had connected Sol to a terminal intended for questions about ripeness. By 8:17, shoppers were holding up two onions and asking which one better represented their week.

The lower price made consultation cheaper than the embarrassment of choosing badly. The terminal moved from produce to the carts, where customers asked whether to buy a broom, whether needing advice about a broom proved they needed one, and whether the fluorescent lighting was making the broom seem more necessary. One shopper asked for a second opinion on the first opinion and blocked the frozen-food aisle.

The market attempts to restore personal judgment

At 10:02, manager Lila Venn taped a sign to the terminal instructing shoppers to use their own judgment for ordinary purchases. The next customer asked Sol whether the sign’s judgment should outrank hers. Sol returned an answer long enough for three more carts to arrive.

Venn restricted each cart to one question and placed a red plastic token in the basket to enforce the limit. Shoppers immediately asked whether a question about the limit counted as the question. When the tokens ran out, customers began leaving carts in the aisles rather than make an unaided commitment about what to do next.

By noon, the market unplugged the terminal and put it behind customer service. The line stayed beside the dead screen, waiting to decide whether leaving without consulting Sol was a decision that could safely be made without consulting Sol.