OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Gov for Government Agencies

OpenAI is launching today ChatGPT Gov, a new version of its chatbot for US government agencies. The new offering will give government agencies access to many of the features available with ChatGPT Enterprise subscriptions, including GPT-4o and custom GPTs, with the added option to self-host the technology.

According to OpenAI, more than 90,000 employees across US federal, state, and local government agencies sent over 18 million messages on ChatGPT since 2024. However, with ChatGPT Gov, employees will be able to share conversations and custom GPTs within their government workspace, though usage policies will still apply.

For IT admins, ChatGPT Gov will offer an admin console for managing, users, groups, Custom GPTs, and more. Through Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service, US government agencies will also to deploy ChatGPT gov in their own Microsoft Azure commercial cloud or Azure Government cloud.

“Self-hosting ChatGPT Gov enables agencies to more easily manage their own security, privacy, and compliance requirements, such as stringent cybersecurity frameworks (IL5, CJIS, ITAR, FedRAMP High),” OpenAI explained today. “Additionally, we believe this infrastructure will expedite internal authorization of OpenAI’s tools for the handling of non-public sensitive data.”

The launch of ChatGPT Gov is coming at a time of increased competition between well-funded US-based companies and innovative challengers like Chinese startup DeepSeek. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI also seems to be trying to get in the good graces of the new US administration. After attending Trump’s inauguration ceremony last week, Altman posted on X “I’m not going to agree with him on everything, but I think he will be incredible for the country in many ways.”