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Malta has handed every citizen a free ChatGPT Plus account. Other countries will be more than interested in the results of the experiment. Ian Borg, Malta’s deputy prime minister, flew to Silicon Valley earlier this year to sign a contract no other government had signed before.

On May 16 the deal was made public. Every Maltese citizen and resident, on completion of a literacy course built by the University of Malta, will receive a year of ChatGPT Plus free of charge. Silvio Schembri, the economy minister, framed the announcement as putting Maltese citizens “at the very forefront of global change”. The Malta Digital Innovation Authority is in charge of distribution. Roughly 574,000 residents are eligible. Clyde Caruana, Malta’s finance minister, presented the country’s 2026 budget to parliament on October 27th last year, with a 100 million euros fund earmarked for the digital switchover and AI adoption across society. The Malta partnership is where part of it has now gone. Access to the AI for All programme runs through Malta’s eID system, gates on a free university-taught course, and extends to Maltese passport-holders living abroad. ChatGPT Plus retails at 20 US dollars a month . Multiplied across the resident base, the nominal price comes to around 130 million US dollars. OpenAI’s actual cost of provision is lower; the company has not disclosed what Malta is paying. The pitch was delivered by George Osborne, a former British chancellor who now runs OpenAI for Countries.

Key points

• On May 16 the deal was made public.
• Every Maltese citizen and resident, on completion of a literacy course built by the University of Malta, will receive a year of ChatGPT Plus free of charge.
• Silvio Schembri, the economy minister, framed the announcement as putting Maltese citizens “at the very forefront of global change”.
• The Malta Digital Innovation Authority is in charge of distribution.
• Roughly 574,000 residents are eligible.