OpenAI and Government of Malta partner to roll out ChatGPT Plus to all citizens(openai.com)
109 pointsby bookofjoeMay 16, 2026

24 Comments

mock-possum•May 16, 2026
Smart move, just wish a more ethical outfit was making it.
rendx•May 16, 2026
> "Malta’s AI for All initiative will offer people of all backgrounds the opportunity to learn how AI can be used responsibly through a course developed by the University of Malta. The course is designed to help people understand what AI is, what it can and can’t do, and how to use it responsibly at home and work. After the course is completed, citizens can access ChatGPT Plus for one year at no cost to them."*
julianlam•May 16, 2026
> for one year

snort

dawnerd•May 16, 2026
Gotta get them hooked and reliant on it. It’s why they subsidized the entire software industry to adopt it.
34df•May 17, 2026
OAI really believes LLMs are going to have the same revolutionary effect as personal computers did.... lmao.
beering•May 17, 2026
Yeah, I think we can all agree that personal computers were a mistake.
Forgeties79•May 17, 2026
Even reading this as a sarcastic comment I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here.
sauercrowd•May 16, 2026
TL;DR: they made a course for citizens
zitterbewegung•May 16, 2026
Would be interesting long term if this sways public opinion about data centers in Malta. I do support though AI literacy in general and this is a good step. Would wonder about the deal in how much this is actually costing Malta if at all.
purrcat259•May 16, 2026
Unlikely. Other than the telcos there's only one proper commercial datacentre here. Space is very constrained and the electricity supply stability + summer heat aren't a fun combination
SOLAR_FIELDS•May 17, 2026
As a complete layman, I do wonder why you would bother building a datacenter at a place that everyone agrees is going to be basically underwater in the next 50-100 years.
IncreasePosts•May 17, 2026
You're thinking of the maldives.
rileymat2•May 17, 2026
Wouldn’t 45 to 95 years of use be plenty of time for ROI?
preisschild•May 16, 2026
OpenAI is inherently incentivized to sell as much LLM compute as possible, that is not neutral "AI literacy". You don't let tobacco companies make anti smoking education either.
charcircuit•May 17, 2026
>You don't let tobacco companies make anti smoking education either.

Many jurisdictions literally force them to put education on the boxes.

zamadatix•May 17, 2026
Education written by the government, not the tobacco company. Hence why the tobacco companies weren't keen on it.
Yokohiii•May 17, 2026
What has this to do with AI literacy?
blfr•May 16, 2026
The subsidies deployed by the industry are so massive I don't even know if consumers need public assistance here. It's kinda like the gov was subsidizing web hosting or basic banking. The price for a regular consumer already barely hovers above zero.

Just look at this list of services included in Google's AI Pro subscription[1]. Google took everything it could think any consumer might need and bundled for $20/mo. There's even $10 GCP credit (that you can use for AI API calls).

[1] https://support.google.com/googleone/answer/14534406?hl=en

dwa3592•May 16, 2026
Thank you for this comment and holy cow, I have the pro subscription and didn't know it came with that many bells.
ecommerceguy•May 16, 2026
I had a free 3 month trial I just terminated. I deemed it too expensive.
loloquwowndueo•May 17, 2026
Free is too expensive? Were you expecting to get paid for using it?
esafak•May 17, 2026
It should be understood that he canceled before Google started charging him.
gwerbin•May 16, 2026
It's a ploy to drive adoption. Once it's considered essential they can turn the screws in massive contracts with governments, big enterprises, universities, and public school systems. Probably some genuine competition on price, but the equilibrium price is probably below cost and not sustainable.
loloquwowndueo•May 17, 2026
First step of enshittification :)
conradev•May 17, 2026
The government does subsidize basic banking, though?
weird-eye-issue•May 17, 2026
If only it came with YouTube Premium... Most of that list is just AI in existing products which is not all that interesting. You get better value and models through ChatGPT or Claude especially if you are a developer
LeoPanthera•May 17, 2026
It does come with a discount for YouTube Premium.
pishpash•May 17, 2026
That's not close to "everything ... any consumer might need". It's a list of useless things, other than 5TB of storage. Granted, cloud storage typically sells for more than this, so they are offering Gemini for something like -$15/mo.
alfiedotwtf•May 16, 2026
To be honest, PR pieces don’t all need to go on HN, especially when this is probably not news worthy to anyone here except Maltese living in Malta
GaggiX•May 16, 2026
I'm not Maltese and I did find it interesting.
muwtyhg•May 16, 2026
Could you articulate what part you find interesting?
GaggiX•May 17, 2026
The fact that a nation provides free access to SOTA models to all his citizen via this partnership, I mean it's not something I have seen before, therefore I find it interesting, also Malta is not too far from me.
cj•May 17, 2026
Can you name one private/government partnership that resembles this one?

I can’t.

ipaddr•May 17, 2026
I find the small sample size of Malta to be like tests they have done in Iceland. It won't cost them too much and will generate interesting answers
varispeed•May 16, 2026
Can't imagine the size of brown envelope. Handing over your entire nation's thoughts to a foreign company operating under US Cloud Act in normal circumstances would be considered a risk to national security. Why not invest in home grown talent and companies?
morkalork•May 16, 2026
Worse than that, it's bi-directional. The model's responses and tuning now influences a whole nation of people.
netsharc•May 17, 2026
It's an interesting way to control the population.. let them delegate thinking to systems, and then just control the systems to respond to your (you = government) preference.

My analogy is using AI is like using a navigation system, you can end up delegating everything to it and drive into a river...

applfanboysbgon•May 16, 2026
Malta is the size of a small city, I don't think national security or investing into home grown companies comes into play here.
phillc73•May 16, 2026
Malta is part of the EU. I am personally very surprised about this partnership, just in the context of data security, privacy and the GDPR. How is the privacy of these EU citizens protected when all their prompts and data is sent to OpenAI? How do these EU citizens submit a request for all their personal data to be deleted from OpenAI records, a right they have under the GDPR with a compliant data processor?
applfanboysbgon•May 16, 2026
ChatGPT is already available to users in the EU. It already has an EU-aligned terms of service. Not that I'd trust them, because the GDPR has been borderline useless in reality, but there's nothing particularly legally interesting about this offering.

> How do these EU citizens submit a request for all their personal data to be deleted from OpenAI records

Probably by sending an e-mail to a designated address, like most services that operate in the EU, but you can read their TOS if you'd like to be sure.

varispeed•May 16, 2026
> but there's nothing particularly legally interesting about this offering.

Care to elaborate or we have become completely apathetic to any display of sleaze?

applfanboysbgon•May 16, 2026
I mean, it's just a literal non-event legally. I'm repeating myself here, but OpenAI already operates in the EU. EU users can already use ChatGPT, with some assurances about adhering to GDPR. Offering the ad-free tier to a subset of EU users for free, who could already use the tier with ads for free, doesn't change anything legally in regards to data processing.

If you want my commentary on the political context, obviously I think it's not very intelligent for nations to be trusting a US corporation with all of their citizens' data. I think the most impactful use of LLMs is going to be their usage as surveillance and propaganda tools, so this is probably not a prudent decision. But legally, as pertains to GDPR, this is not different from the status quo in any way.

Aurornis•May 17, 2026
How is this any different than EU citizens accessing OpenAI, which is already available in the EU?

Nobody is obligated to use it. It just moves the price to $0 for people in Malta who choose to use it. Same service.

fock•May 17, 2026
- Malta is selling passports and harboring criminals who kill journalists (we all remember Daphne Caruana Galizia don't we?). - buying votes/parties there would get you 10 times the MEPs you get in Germany or France. - their mayors can veto EU policy... This EU-thing really is democratic!

so: I doubt anyone has to care about that pesky GDPR if they buy the government of Malta.

beering•May 17, 2026
I’m very confused as to what you are asking here. Do you think OpenAI does not serve ChatGPT to EU users already under EU law?
ninjahawk1•May 16, 2026
I’m personally not a fan of OpenAI always referring to their model as “providing intelligence as a utility.” Sounds very condescending, are you saying this isn’t something we already have? If that’s the opinion, may be good to reflect on how the models were trained. On millions upon millions of books which no authors were compensated for.

But that’s besides the point, the whole initiative is self-defeating by design. This isn’t like power, it’s something humans do inherently possess, this is simply a way to amplify what already exists. Intelligent people using AI generally seem to be more productive than when they don’t use it, and lazy or unintelligent people generally see cognitive decline, at least based on what I’ve heard online but I could be wrong on that.

So saying “this is where you get intelligence” is both false marketing and destructive to OpenAI as a company, since by all definitions, it isn’t true.

arcanemachiner•May 16, 2026
> I’m personally not a fan of OpenAI always referring to their model as “providing intelligence as a utility.” Sounds very condescending, are you saying this isn’t something we already have?

Your body also generates electricity and natural gas. Do you also get upset when energy companies claim to provide these services as a utility?

malfist•May 16, 2026
Is the electricity or natural gas that your body produces a defining feature of humanity?

Does AI actually provide intelligence?

pear01•May 17, 2026
Intelligence can only be human? Is that your argument?
raq98•May 16, 2026
"Humans also produce farts" is a new low. Can the AI people be interned or moved to some seasteading libertarian hellhole so the rest of us can live a normal life?
archagon•May 16, 2026
I think we’ll need certified human/no-ai communities at some point in the near future.
bluefirebrand•May 17, 2026
I'm in, where do we start?

If I never have to hear anything about AI ever again it will be too soon

trollbridge•May 17, 2026
My brother is actually moving to one (although that's not the core focus of the community, but they are extremely sceptical of AI there).

I suspect in a few years it's going to be strange to talk to him and other people there. It's already hard to explain to people that "Yeah, you can have a phone call and it can sound like your dad but it might just be a chat bot."

Muromec•May 16, 2026
>I’m personally not a fan of OpenAI always referring to their model as “providing intelligence as a utility.” Sounds very condescending, are you saying this isn’t something we already have?

We do and we don't. If you would go out there and talk to a random person about elliptic curves and matrix multiplications and whether you hit a performance ceiling in a specific 2x2 multiplication thingy with Karatsuba and wnaf, they would not know half the words, but the lying and flattering machine will be able to hold the conversation.

The thing will not get all things right and bullshit me about DSTU4145 using normal basis, will lie about A being set to 1 for all standard curves, but it's definitely more intelligence that you can get from a taxi driver.

If it's not general superintelligence right there for five bucks a piece, I don't know what is

malfist•May 16, 2026
Is a dictionary intelligent?
hilariously•May 16, 2026
These philosophical questions are decades if not older https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room And the answer is "depends on who you ask and how many capabilities it has"
Muromec•May 16, 2026
Does the prayer by a kafir not knowing the language in which the prayer is recited get forgiveness?

I mean, what's the point of this question even. The thing is either useful or fun or it's not. I personally think the whole AI is the work of devil tempting us, but some people would say that about pork sausages and Paulaner and I like my pork sausages with Paulaner.

preisschild•May 16, 2026
> We do and we don't. If you would go out there and talk to a random person about elliptic curves and matrix multiplications and whether you hit a performance ceiling in a specific 2x2 multiplication thingy with Karatsuba and wnaf, they would not know half the words, but the lying and flattering machine will be able to hold the conversation.

Wikipedia has existed for decades...

Muromec•May 16, 2026
You can't talk to wikipedia either, but it exists and is helpful, yes.
34df•May 17, 2026
None of those things qualify as intelligence.

Is a calculator intelligent? I can 'talk' to it via pushing buttons.

pizza•May 16, 2026
you can say the same thing of the watts in a person too
delusional•May 16, 2026
> providing intelligence as a utility

Lol, they are literally just promising to make people fungible. Tale as old as time.

martin-t•May 16, 2026
Then perhaps their signalling isn't meant for you but for people who have to pay those pesky expensive intelligent people like translators, programmers, designers and writers. Those people would benefit greatly if they could rent intelligence much cheaper from companies like OpenAI.
kovek•May 17, 2026
LLMs are like a search engine that autocompletes. It's a tool.
neon_me•May 16, 2026
... rather than that, they should prepay everyone a few hours of therapy and aroma sticks. A waaay more profit in the long game.
MagicMoonlight•May 16, 2026
It’s a shame ChatGPT is total trash now.
Muromec•May 16, 2026
Thanks CCP for having providing one that is as lying and flattering but cheaper.
syngrog66•May 16, 2026
Facts for context:

Malta has a population of only 550k.

Everyone in Malta could already, before this deal/plan, and even without it now, use ChatGPT (or any other LLM model/service, whether free or premium.)

purrcat259•May 16, 2026
Citation needed. I haven't heard of this.

I'm Maltese so feel free to be as detailed as needed.

collingreen•May 16, 2026
They are saying that the product is already available then implying a government deal on behalf of all citizens doesn't matter because the product is already available.
purrcat259•May 16, 2026
Maltese population are historically price sensitive. €20 a month isn't something you easily justify especially with recent cost of living increases.

So the fact that you get it free after doing some basic due diligence is actually a big deal in the local context.

kdheiwns•May 17, 2026
Anyone can use ChatGPT for free already. The vast majority of people using AI as a search engine alternative/chatbot never have any reason to pay. You don't even need an account.
rtlambh•May 16, 2026
A gambling, money laundering and Mafia paradise where journalists are killed for investigating the Mafia partners with OpenAI. A match made in heaven!

Next, force an eyeball scan on the peasant population.

purrcat259•May 16, 2026
Unfortunate thats the reputation we have :(
eska•May 16, 2026
I used to work for a hosting company, and all the shady business like exploitation of children and sex workers came from there unfortunately. But that’s because people move their business there for legal reasons, not because of their residents I assume.
Muromec•May 16, 2026
Eyball scans are already there on the border for other people. So are AI turrets shooting people on sight, just a different border
musicale•May 16, 2026
What could possibly go wrong?
decimalenough•May 16, 2026
It's a one year free trial, after that it costs money.
Sophira•May 17, 2026
And only after a mandatory course, if I'm reading the article correctly.
alpinisme•May 17, 2026
Honestly depending on how it’s implemented the course could be really socially useful, both for establishing some baseline knowledge that could help avoid some of the pitfalls of too-credulous use of AI and for spurring people to innovate in their local businesses because they’ve been exposed to ideas earlier than would happen “naturally” as ideas just percolate through society
1295817•May 16, 2026
The comments here were not sufficiently obsequious towards AI companies, so the submission dropped from the front page to page three in minutes.

That is how AI boosterism works here.

foxglacier•May 17, 2026
How?? Are you saying there's a lot of silent AI-boosters on HN voting it down despite almost every single comment here being non-obsequious? Looks like your model of reality has detached from modelling reality.
martin-t•May 16, 2026
Surely the deal is beneficial for both sides.

For OpenAI because they get a lot of money and and for the government because they can keep tabs on how people use LLMs to make sure they're not doing anything naughty.

627467•May 16, 2026
Openai seems to be fast forwarding the original Facebook playbook: lobbying for regulatory moat and now OpenAI zero[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Zero

martinbfine•May 17, 2026
Welcome to the 1990's internet days redux in the form of AI! Can't wait for the new AI devices and Web 4.0! So exciting!
sidcool•May 17, 2026
All that data on all Malta citizens. Remember, if you're more paying, you're the product
zamadatix•May 17, 2026
Remember, if the government says it's free it almost certainly means the people are actually paying for it.
EGreg•May 17, 2026
Yes and even if you are paying, you’re still the product!

That’s whats happens in two sided markets. Everyone’s the product.

The original adage of “if you’re not paying, you’re the product” doesn’t necessarily rule out the converse. The fact that the grandfather comment made a freudian slip makes it funnier.

zamadatix•May 17, 2026
Hear hear! And those who say paying is the only time one has a chance to not be the product should look at getting involved with a genuine charity or volunteer program too. There are no universal rules about this kind of thing.
pear01•May 17, 2026
They don't care. Come up with a better argument. Consumers and citizens by the billions the world over have already told you they don't care. Why would you think Malta of all places would be an exception?
exabrial•May 17, 2026
Gosh how generous of malta government officials to transfer those tax earnings straight to the 1%ers pockets
sharpshadow•May 17, 2026
It’s a voluntary two hour online AI course with 1 year ChatGPT premium reward. Getting AI basics to the people with playground.
emsign•May 17, 2026
Getting free data from every Maltese citizen rather.
irishcoffee•May 17, 2026
Nauseating.

I run local models. They're fun to play with. I get a bit of a dopamine hit when it works.

They're selling addiction. This is fucking disgusting.

hbarka•May 17, 2026
Next, maybe Anthropic can make Sicily an offer it can’t refuse.
emsign•May 17, 2026
WTF? Corruption?