OpenAI on Tuesday announced its biggest product launch since its enterprise rollout. It’s called ChatGPT Gov and was built specifically for U.S. government use.
The Microsoft-backed company bills the new platform as a step beyond ChatGPT Enterprise as far as security. It allows government agencies, as customers, to feed “non-public, sensitive information” into OpenAI’s models while operating within their own secure hosting environments, OpenAI CPO Kevin Weil told reporters during a briefing Monday.
Since the beginning of 2024, OpenAI said that more than 90,000 employees of federal, state and local governments have generated more than 18 million prompts within ChatGPT, using the tech to translate and summarize documents, write and draft policy memos, generate code, and build applications.
The user interface for ChatGPT Gov looks like ChatGPT Enterprise. The main difference is that government agencies will use ChatGPT Gov in their own Microsoft Azure commercial cloud, or Azure Government community cloud, so they can “manage their own security, privacy and compliance requirements,” Felipe Millon, who leads federal sales and go-to-market for OpenAI, said on the call with reporters.
For as long as artificial intelligence has been used by government agencies, it’s faced significant scrutiny due to its potentially harmful ripple effects, especially for vulnerable and minority populations, and data privacy concerns. Police use of AI has led to a number of wrongful arrests and, in California, voters rejected a plan to replace the state’s bail system with an algorithm due to concerns it would increase bias.
An OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC that the company acknowledges there are special considerations for government use of AI, and OpenAI wrote in a blog post Tuesday that the product is subject to its usage policies.
Aaron Wilkowitz, a solutions engineer at OpenAI, showed reporters a demo of a day in the life of a new Trump administration employee, allowing the person to sign into ChatGPT Gov and create a five-week plan for some of their job duties, then analyze an uploaded photo of the same printed-out plan with notes and markings all over it. Wilkowitz also demonstrated how ChatGPT Gov could draft a memo to the legal and compliance department summarizing its own AI-generated job plan and then translate the memo into different languages.
ChatGPT Enterprise, which underpins ChatGPT Gov, is currently going through the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP, and has not yet been accredited for use on nonpublic data. Weil told CNBC it’s a “long process,” adding that he couldn’t provide a timeline.
“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,” Weil said. “So we’re very excited about that.”
But OpenAI’s Millon said ChatGPT Gov will be available in the “near future,” with customers potentially testing and using the product live “within a month.” He said he foresees agencies with sensitive data, such as defense, law enforcement and health care, benefiting most from the product.
When asked if the Trump administration played a role in ChatGPT Gov, Weil said he was in Washington, D.C., for the inauguration and “got to spend a lot of time with folks coming into the new administration.” He added that “the focus is on ensuring that the U.S. wins in AI” and that “our interests are very aligned.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attended the inauguration alongside other tech CEOs and has recently joined the growing tide of industry leaders publicly pronouncing their admiration for President Donald Trump or donating to his inauguration fund. Altman wrote on X that watching Trump “more carefully recently has really changed my perspective on him,” adding that “he will be incredible for the country in many ways.”
A few days before the inauguration, Altman received a letter from U.S. senators expressing concern that he is attempting to “cozy up to the incoming Trump administration” with the aim of avoiding regulation and limiting scrutiny.
Regarding China’s DeepSeek, Weil told reporters the new developments don’t change how OpenAI thinks about its product road map but instead “underscores how important it is that the U.S. wins this race.”
“It’s a super competitive industry, and this is showing that it’s competitive globally, not just within the U.S.,” Weil said. “We’re committed to moving really quickly here. We want to stay ahead.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while World leaders listen during a summit of European and Middle Eastern leaders on Gaza on October 13, 2025 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
This might not be Christmas, but the war in the Middle East is over — at least according to U.S. President Donald Trump.
On Monday, Trump declared at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, that the “long and painful nightmare” was finally over for both the Israelis and Palestinians. More straightforwardly, Trump gave an unequivocal “yes” when asked by reporters if the war in the Middle East has ended, Reuters reported.
Broadcom, meanwhile, surged almost 10% after it jointly announced a partnership with — who else? — OpenAI to build and deploy custom chips. But where this puts Nvidia, OpenAI’s other near and dear one, and on whose chips the ChatGPT maker relies, remains a question.
Though Christmas has yet to arrive, OpenAI is starting to look like the tech sector’s Santa Claus.
— CNBC’s Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.
What you need to know today
War in the Middle East is over, Trump says. At Israel’s parliament, Trump gave a speech in which he said that the “long and painful nightmare” for both the Israelis and Palestinians was over. He also urged, at a separate event, for leaders to put “old feuds” behind.
Broadcom joins the OpenAI party. The two companies announced Monday that they’re planning to develop and deploy OpenAI-designed chips, amounting to 10 gigawatts, starting late next year. Shares of Broadcom popped almost 10% on the news.
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U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Argentina’s President Javier Milei during the 80th United Nations General Assembly, in New York City, New York, U.S., Sept. 23, 2025.
In a move that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Thursday on social media site X, the U.S. is providing a $20 billion currency swap line with Argentina’s central bank — essentially exchanging stable U.S. dollars with volatile pesos.
The move comes amid liquidity concerns in Argentina that threatened stability for the country as it faces key midterm elections. There are equal parts economic and political stakes with the venture, which marks the first U.S. intervention of this nature since rescuing Mexico in 1995.
A woman cleans the store window of the Amazon house after activists sprayed paint on its logo during a protest on the opening day of the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 20, 2025.
Yves Herman | Reuters
Amazon fired a Palestinian engineer who was suspended last month after he protested the company’s work with the Israeli government.
Ahmed Shahrour, who worked as a software engineer in Amazon’s Whole Foods business in Seattle, received an email on Monday informing him of his termination. When he was suspended in September, Amazon said the decision was the result of messages Shahrour posted on Slack criticizing the company’s ties to Israel.
Amazon said its investigation found Shahrour had violated the company’s standards of conduct, written communication policy and acceptable use policy, alleging that he “misused company resources, including by posting numerous non-work-related messages pertaining to the Israel-Palestine conflict.”
“In the next 24hrs you will receive an email with detailed information about your termination, including information about your benefits and final pay,” an Amazon human resources employee wrote in a message to Shahrour that was obtained by CNBC. “We appreciate the contributions you’ve made during your time with Amazon and wish you the best in your future endeavors.”
An employee group associated with Shahrour put out an afternoon press release saying that he was fired after a five-week suspension “for protesting Amazon’s $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government and military, known as Project Nimbus, which he states constitutes collaboration in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Shahrour had urged the company to drop the contract that involves Amazon providing the Israeli government with artificial intelligence tools, data centers and other infrastructure. He also protested and handed out flyers at Amazon’s downtown Seattle headquarters.
In a statement to CNBC, Shahrour said his firing is “a blatant act of retaliation designed to silence dissent from Palestinian voices within Amazon and shield Amazon’s collaboration in the genocide from internal scrutiny.”
Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told CNBC in a statement that the company doesn’t tolerate “discrimination, harassment or threatening behavior or language of any kind in our workplace.”
“When any conduct of that nature is reported, we investigate it and take appropriate action based on our findings,” Glasser said.
Shahrour’s termination comes on the same day that Palestinian militant group Hamas released the first seven surviving Israeli hostages, marking the first stage of a ceasefire deal brokered with the help of U.S. President Donald Trump. As part of the agreement, Israel was also scheduled to free nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners later in the day.
The war started just over two years ago, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing roughly 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages. Israel followed with a sustained assault that killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, including thousands of civilians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Across the tech industry, workers have become more outspoken in their criticism of business dealings with the Israeli military.
On Thursday, a Microsoft engineer resigned after 13 years at the software giant, claiming the company continues to sell cloud services to the Israeli military and that executives won’t discuss the war in Gaza. Scott Sutfin-Glowski, a principal software engineer, informed colleagues in a letter that, “I can no longer accept enabling what may be the worst atrocities of our time.”
In the letter, he referred to a February Associated Press article that said Israel’s military had at least 635 Microsoft subscriptions, and he claimed the vast majority of them remain active.
Microsoft fired two employees in August who participated in a protest inside the company’s headquarters. In April 2024, Google terminated 28 employees after a series of protests against labor conditions and its involvement in Project Nimbus.
Amazon hasn’t acknowledged the Nimbus contract beyond stating that it provides technology to customers “wherever they are located.” Google has previously said it provides generally available cloud computing services to the Israeli government that aren’t “directed at highly sensitive, classified or military workloads.” Microsoft said in August that most of its work with Israel Defense Forces involves cybersecurity for the country, and that the company intends to provide technology in an ethical way.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday that artificial intelligence could become a larger part of global GDP as the technology spreads across industries.
Tan said the current global GDP sits around $110 trillion, with 30% of that figure “valued from industries related to knowledge-based, technology-intensive.”
“And you put in generative AI, you create intelligence in a lot of other aspects of society,” Tan continued. “That 30% say will grow to 40% of all GDP. That’s $10 trillion a year.”
If AI grows and becomes responsible for a larger piece of global GDP as Tan predicts, it would be a boon to the nascent tech sector and all the industries it relies on. Broadcom makes chips and networking equipment and has been a huge beneficiary of the AI boom as hyperscalers buy up its products. The stock is currently up 53.86%.
Broadcom and OpenAI announced their official partnership on Monday, saying they would jointly build and deploy 10 gigawatts of custom artificial intelligence accelerators. The move is part of a broader effort to scale AI across the industry. Broadcom shares surged in response to the news, up 9.88% by market close.
Broadcom and OpenAI’s deal is the latest in a slew of pricey partnerships among key Big Tech players related to AI.
Tan said OpenAI is “one of those few players in the forefront of creating foundation models,” and noted that even as a private company, the ChatGPT maker is worth about $500 billion. According to Tan, Broadcom’s “hard-nosed” approach to business doesn’t keep the company from looking several years in the future “at this phenomenon, this wave called generative AI.”
Broadcom is tight-lipped about its customers, but said earlier this year it was developing new AI chips with three large cloud customers. Management announced last month it had secured $10 billion in chip orders from a fourth unnamed client.
Tan told Cramer that Broadcom is working closely with “about seven players,” four of which he defined as “real customers,” or ones “who have given us production purchase orders at scale.”
“We feel very good about it,” Tan said of Broadcom’s partnerships. “Because each of these guys need a lot of compute capacity for them to basically play in this game and eventually win this game of creating the best foundation model in the world.”
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Disclaimer The CNBC Investing Club Charitable Trust owns shares of Broadcom.