Mr. Altman Goes to Washington

Sam Altman
"There’s certainly a close relationship between some of these leading A.I. companies and the Trump administration. And the way that regulation, or deregulation, around A.I. is phrased and pushed is like, It’s great. It’s perfect for all your use cases. Keep not regulating us. We’ll give it to you for massive discounts. They’re building this ecosystem where they want to be the go-to," says Ian Krietzberg. Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Julia Ioffe
&
Ian Krietzberg
August 17, 2025

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It’s been a busy summer for Sam Altman in Washington—first with the launch of the OpenAI for Government initiative in June, and now a new partnership with the General Services Administration to get an enterprise version of ChatGPT into the hands of federal workers for essentially no cost (at least for the first year). As for what exactly these deals entail, and what they mean for the U.S. taxpayer, well, that’s all a bit vague—something to do with “revolutionizing employee and citizen experiences” and “reimagining how we deliver mission-critical services,” per a statement from the acting G.S.A. administrator. But as the Russian saying goes, the only free cheese is in a mousetrap, so perhaps the more pertinent question is: What’s in it for OpenAI?