OpenAI Is Offering ChatGPT Enterprise to the Entire Federal Government for $1 – Maginative
OpenAI wants to make sure every U.S. federal worker has access to advanced AI tools—and it’s willing to do it for basically nothing. Starting today, through a new partnership with the General Services Administration (GSA), federal agencies can adopt ChatGPT Enterprise for a token $1 fee for the entire year.
The announcement, which came Wednesday through a partnership with the GSA, represents one of the most aggressive AI land grabs we’ve seen yet. For the next year, ChatGPT Enterprise will be available to the entire federal executive branch workforce at essentially no cost, with participating agencies able to access OpenAI’s most powerful models for what the company calls a “nominal” fee.
To put that in perspective: ChatGPT Enterprise typically runs organizations around $60 per user per month with a minimum of 150 users and a 12-month contract. For a mid-sized federal agency with 1,000 employees, that would normally be $60,000 monthly. Now? One dollar. Total.
This push comes directly on the heels of the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan, which explicitly calls for making powerful AI tools available across the federal government so that workers can spend less time on red tape and paperwork. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman framed it as patriotic duty in a statement, saying “One of the best ways to make sure AI works for everyone is to put it in the hands of the people serving the country.”
But OpenAI isn’t alone in this government gold rush. A spokesperson for Anthropic told Axios that the company is working closely with the government on a similar deal to offer its Claude model for $1. Google, whose Gemini was also approved for federal use through the GSA’s Multiple Award Schedule on Tuesday, hasn’t publicly disclosed its pricing strategy yet—though the pressure is clearly on.
The race to capture federal mindshare makes strategic sense. Once millions of government workers get comfortable with a particular AI assistant, switching costs—both technical and cultural—become enormous. It’s the same playbook Microsoft used with Office decades ago, except now the stakes involve who gets to shape how AI integrates into government operations.
In a recent pilot program, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania employees using ChatGPT saved an average of about 95 minutes per day on routine tasks. Scale that across the entire federal workforce, and you’re talking about a fundamental transformation in how government operates. OpenAI knows this, and they’re betting that a year of essentially free access will create dependency that agencies won’t want to break when renewal time comes around.
The security piece is crucial here. ChatGPT Enterprise already does not use business data, including inputs or outputs, to train or improve OpenAI models. For federal agencies handling everything from tax returns to national security briefings, that firewall between their data and OpenAI’s training pipeline is non-negotiable. The GSA has issued an Authority to Use for ChatGPT Enterprise, essentially giving it the federal government’s security seal of approval.
Beyond the base offering, OpenAI is sweetening the pot. Federal employees get access to a dedicated government user community, custom training through the OpenAI Academy, and partnerships with consulting giants Slalom and Boston Consulting Group for implementation support. For an additional 60 day period, OpenAI will provide unlimited use of advanced models and features, like Deep Research and Advanced Voice Mode—features that normally come with strict usage caps even for paying Enterprise customers.
The broader context here is the administration’s push to ensure federal AI procurement aligns with its “anti-woke” AI principles. The plan includes requiring AI developers to ensure their chatbots are “free of ideological bias” in order to be eligible for federal contracts. While the GSA hasn’t detailed exactly how they’ll measure ideological neutrality, it’s clear that AI vendors are rushing to demonstrate their models can meet whatever standards emerge.
This $1 pricing isn’t sustainable long-term—OpenAI is essentially paying millions to acquire the federal government as a customer. But once ChatGPT becomes embedded in daily workflows across agencies, from drafting memos at State to analyzing data at Treasury, the switching costs make future price increases easier to swallow.
For Anthropic, matching OpenAI’s pricing shows they’re not willing to cede the federal market without a fight. The company has already been courting national security agencies with specialized Claude Gov models designed for classified environments. Claude Gov models deliver enhanced performance for critical government needs and specialized tasks Anthropic to offer its products to the government for $1, including improved handling of classified materials and better understanding of intelligence contexts.
Meanwhile, Google’s silence on pricing is telling. As the only one of the three major AI vendors without a publicly announced $1 deal, they risk being seen as the expensive option—not exactly the position you want when trying to win over budget-conscious government procurement officers.
The real winners here might be federal employees themselves. After years of working with clunky, outdated government IT systems, they’re suddenly getting access to the same cutting-edge AI tools that Silicon Valley uses. Whether that translates into better government services for the rest of us remains to be seen.
What’s certain is that this $1 price tag is just the opening move in a much longer game. Once the year is up, these agencies will have integrated AI deeply into their operations, trained thousands of employees, and built workflows around these specific tools. That’s when the real pricing negotiations begin—and by then, switching to a competitor might feel more expensive than whatever renewal price these companies demand.
For now, though, the federal government is getting what might be the deal of the century: enterprise AI for the price of a pack of gum. The question isn’t whether agencies will take the deal—it’s what happens when the meter starts running again.
Chris McKay is the founder and chief editor of Maginative. His thought leadership in AI literacy and strategic AI adoption has been recognized by top academic institutions, media, and global brands.
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