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OpenAI Eyes Fed Efficiency With ChatGPT Gov

The ChatGPT creator said its newest tool offers agencies generative AI on premises and aligns with Trump’s call to boost federal efficiency.

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OpenAI ChatGPT
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Generative artificial intelligence giant OpenAI unveiled Tuesday its newest ChatGPT Gov tool enabling agencies to host AI models on premises and manage their own security. The move comes a week into President Donald Trump’s term marked by recent calls for a more efficient federal workforce and forging partnerships with the tech industry.

“ChatGPT Gov offers the most powerful features of ChatGPT Enterprise, while enabling agencies to securely use our frontier models with non-public, sensitive information, all within their own secure hosting environment,” said OpenAI Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil during a press briefing Monday.

Generative AI has boomed across industries including the federal government, which over the past few years has been working to integrate the technology while establishing guardrails for its security.

Since the beginning of 2024, more than 90,000 government users in the U.S. have used ChatGPT across federal, state and local agencies and have sent over 18 million prompts.

What is ChatGPT Gov?

ChatGPT Gov is a chatbot experience like ChatGPT Enterprise. Its primary difference is that it is not a software-as-a-service (SaaS), but rather a code container that agencies license from OpenAI and deploy in their own Azure Commercial and Azure Government Community Cloud (GCC) tenants.

“[ChatGPT Gov] is different because instead of being a cloud-hosted service, we give the customers the container images,” said OpenAI Government Sales Lead Felipe Millon during the briefing. “We’re basically giving them the software itself, and then customers host that themselves, and by doing that process, they’re inheriting the control, and they’re able to authorize it faster.”

Because agencies manage their own security and privacy compliance, it should significantly expedite the time to authorization, Millon explained.

“This new approach aims to streamline the authorization process for handling sensitive data while delivering the efficiency and productivity benefits that agencies need all built on us technology,” Weil said. “It allows ChatGPT Gov to basically inherit all the security and compliance work that’s already happened because it’s running in the customer’s own environment.”

OpenAI tech leads demonstrated the platform to reporters Monday while showcasing specific use cases where federal employees could apply the tech to “ramp up very quickly and effectively in a short period of time” project plans, drafting memos and translating and summarizing text, for example.

“Within a month, I could see customers being already testing and having [ChatGPT Gov] live in their environment,” Millon said.

Weil said the new offering will help government agencies work “smarter, faster and more creatively,” adding that AI has the power to increase the efficiency of public service operations and help policy-makers understand responsible uses of AI to better serve the public.

AI and Trump’s Government Efficiency

The announcement aligns with Trump’s recent calls to boost federal efficiency and innovation.

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order establishing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which aims to modernize federal technology and software to maximize federal efficiency and productivity. Trump also signed several executive orders aimed at reforming the federal workforce.

“American citizens deserve an excellent and efficient federal workforce that attracts the highest caliber of civil servants,” the workforce executive order states. “By making our recruitment and hiring processes more efficient and focused on serving the nation, we will ensure that the federal workforce is prepared to help achieve American greatness, and attracts the talent necessary to serve our citizens effectively.”

Trump also signed a new executive order on removing barriers to AI innovation Jan. 23 to reduce “burdensome requirements for companies developing and deploying AI that would stifle private sector innovation and threaten American technological leadership.”

“[ChatGPT Gov] also aligns with President Trump’s recent executive order, emphasizing the need to maintain America’s global leadership and AI. By embracing and integrating this technology, we not only enhance our home, but also reinforce our commitment to continuing our investment in tailored solutions for government users,” Weil said.

Last week, Trump announced his support for Stargate, a significant private sector AI infrastructure initiative involving SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle. The partnership aims to invest up to $500 billion in data centers and AI computing. Trump highlighted the venture as a major job creator and a “world-leading” endeavor.

Trump said Stargate will build “the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of AI.”

“We view this not as an opportunity but a responsibility. Together, we can ensure the U.S. remains a leader in AI innovation, while building public trust and delivering on the promise of AI to benefit all Americans,” said Weil Monday. “We’re excited to work together to build a future where AI enhances public service, fosters innovation and secures America’s position as the global leader in AI.”

Millon noted that OpenAI is moving through the FedRAMP process for its enterprise version of ChatGPT, which the company is hoping to achieve “at some point in the near future.” Weil alluded to Trump potentially streamlining FedRAMP to speed up federal adoption of innovative tech.

“As far as FedRAMP, it’s a long process … I know President Trump is also looking at how we can potentially streamline that because it’s one way of getting more modern software tooling into the government and helping the government run more efficiently. So we’re very excited about that, and in the meantime, we’re moving as fast as we can through the existing process,” Weil said.

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