OpenAI is practically giving ChatGPT to the government for free

OpenAI is poised to undercut rivals like Anthropic and Google in the race to see its AI tools integrated into federal agency workflows. 

The AI giant has reached an agreement with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the government’s central purchasing arm, to offer ChatGPT Enterprise to participating federal agencies for just $1 per agency for the next year. 

The partnership comes a day after the GSA added OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic to a list of approved AI vendors that can offer their services to civilian federal agencies. The companies will see their tools offered via the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), a federal contracting platform that lets government agencies access AI tools via pre-negotiated contracts so they don’t have to negotiate with vendors individually. 

It’s not clear whether other AI firms are going to offer their services at such a discounted rate, though GSA Federal Acquisition Service commissioner Josh Gruenbaum in a statement encouraged “other American AI technology companies to follow OpenAI’s lead and work with us.”

TechCrunch has reached out to Anthropic and Google for more information. 

In addition to access to ChatGPT Enterprise, OpenAI is offering unlimited use of advanced models for an additional 60 days. Federal employees will also have access to a new government user community and tailored introductory training resources to get familiar with OpenAI’s tools. 

Data security is a top priority for government agencies that are concerned about sensitive information being leaked into model training sets. TechCrunch has asked the GSA for details on how government data is being safeguarded, including whether measures like on-premises or private cloud deployments are being used to enhance security.

“The government is taking a cautious, security‑first approach to AI,” a GSA spokesperson told TechCrunch. “This ensures sensitive information remains protected while enabling agencies to benefit from AI‑driven efficiencies.”

OpenAI’s discount comes a couple of weeks after the Trump administration published its AI Action Plan that seeks to boost data center buildouts and integrate more AI tools into government, among other things. It also follows a Trump executive order that bans “woke AI” and AI models that aren’t “ideologically neutral” from government contracts. 

TechCrunch has reached out to OpenAI to learn more about its GSA partnership and how it will approach Trump’s executive order.