gpt2-initially-withheld-released-november-2019

Summary

OpenAI deliberately held back its first large language model from the public because the team judged it could be misused, and they ultimately chose a phased rollout in November 2019 rather than a full release or permanent lock-up. This sets a factual precedent that the "withhold versus release" call on a capable model can land somewhere in the middle, and that the decision to restrict access is reversible once the team decides the risk is manageable.