Latest news with #JoshGruenbaum
Politico
5 days ago
- Business
- Politico
AI launches across the government
The initiative comes at a time when AI threatens to displace federal workers whose jobs are already under siege by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency. The emerging technology is also developing at a clip that the government — known for its slow bureaucratic processes and uneven tech adoption rates — has historically struggled to keep pace with. FAS Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum said the goal is to let employees experiment responsibly and 'make day-to-day workflows more efficient.' To address security concerns about government data, the platform is built on cloud infrastructure managed by the GSA, ensuring that agency data does not feed back in to train the companies' models—a key distinction from commercially available AI tools. The initiative comes on the heels of GSA announcing last week that it had added Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT to its Multiple Award Schedule, which establishes a pre-negotiated price baseline for the AI models and acts as a seal of approval for federal buyers looking to adopt the technology. Both OpenAI and Anthropic quickly announced they would sell their AI to the government for $1 over the next year. Though a good deal for Washington, it also gives the two multi-billion dollar companies a first-mover advantage that could entrench their models within the government, possibly at the cost of smaller competitors and new entrants. The administration says its new AI program is voluntary, not mandatory, and that more AI models are likely to be added later. Agencies opt in by signing a simple agreement, after which employees can immediately access chat, search and coding features.
Politico
07-08-2025
- Business
- Politico
Amazon Web Services gives the Trump admin $1 billion coupon
Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner and DOGE staffer Josh Gruenbaum, who has played a leading role in negotiating the deal, called it 'a foundational piece to help implement President Trump's AI Action Plan.' The deal provides $1 billion in credits that federal agencies can draw down on for core AWS cloud services — which will account for the majority of the $1 billion in value — as well as helping agencies shift from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud and training resources for federal employees. The AWS deal is not exclusive. Similar OneGov agreements are in the works with other major cloud providers, including Microsoft and Google, said a senior administration official familiar with the conversations granted anonymity to discuss them. Oracle also recently signed a deal giving government agencies a 75% discount on Oracle technology. 'We're just getting started,' the senior GSA official said. 'This is a first-of-its-kind agreement, and there's a lot more to come both in the cloud space and across other high-impact industries.' For the administration, it's a chance to solidify Trump's AI legacy by laying the groundwork for a long-term transformation of government operations. 'Through this new agreement with AWS, federal agencies will be able to enhance delivery of critical services, leverage cloud and advanced AI technologies, and dramatically reduce costs,' said GSA acting Administrator Michael Rigas. For AWS, the partnership deepens its presence in the federal government and provides access to a huge addressable market of $80 to $100 billion dollars in moving government IT infrastructure still stored on their premises to third party cloud-providers. 'This landmark agreement marks a significant milestone in the large-scale digital transformation of government services,' said AWS CEO Matt Garman. 'As federal agencies adopt advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, AWS is positioned to not only help them achieve immediate operational efficiencies, but also to build the foundation for a more secure and innovative government of tomorrow.' A notable feature of the deal is its attempt to bypass value-added resellers, encouraging direct contracts between agencies and AWS. 'There is a twofold benefit,' Gruenbaum explained. 'First, you're building a direct relationship with the provider, so you can actually pick up the phone and innovate. Second, you save taxpayer dollars by avoiding the 5-7 percent lift in costs that comes from unnecessary middlemen.' The Amazon Web Services partnership includes built-in incentives to favor direct procurement over system integrators, a structural design that reflects the Trump administration's broader vision of creating 'market tension within the federal government itself' by wielding centralized purchasing power. 'We wanted to have a deep partnership that has durability and horizon to it, they jumped at it and they set this deal to basically live through this administration,' Gruenbaum said.
Ammon
07-08-2025
- Business
- Ammon
OpenAI is practically giving ChatGPT to US government for free
Ammon News - OpenAI is poised to undercut rivals like Anthropic and Google in the race to see its AI tools integrated into federal agency workflows. The AI giant has reached an agreement with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the government's central purchasing arm, to offer ChatGPT Enterprise to participating federal agencies for just $1 per agency for the next year. The partnership comes a day after the GSA added OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic to a list of approved AI vendors that can offer their services to civilian federal agencies. The companies will see their tools offered via the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), a federal contracting platform that lets government agencies access AI tools via pre-negotiated contracts so they don't have to negotiate with vendors individually. It's not clear whether other AI firms are going to offer their services at such a discounted rate, though GSA Federal Acquisition Service commissioner Josh Gruenbaum in a statement encouraged 'other American AI technology companies to follow OpenAI's lead and work with us.' In addition to access to ChatGPT Enterprise, OpenAI is offering unlimited use of advanced models for an additional 60 days. Federal employees will also have access to a new government user community and tailored introductory training resources to get familiar with OpenAI's tools. TechCrunch
Yahoo
06-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
OpenAI is practically giving ChatGPT to the government for free
OpenAI is poised to undercut rivals like Anthropic and Google in the race to see its AI tools integrated into federal agency workflows. The AI giant has reached an agreement with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the government's central purchasing arm, to offer ChatGPT Enterprise to participating federal agencies for just $1 per agency for the next year. The partnership comes a day after the GSA added OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic to a list of approved AI vendors that can offer their services to civilian federal agencies. The companies will see their tools offered via the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), a federal contracting platform that lets government agencies access AI tools via pre-negotiated contracts so they don't have to negotiate with vendors individually. It's not clear whether other AI firms are going to offer their services at such a discounted rate, though GSA Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum in a statement encouraged 'other American AI technology companies to follow OpenAI's lead and work with us.' TechCrunch has reached out to Anthropic and Google for more information. In addition to access to ChatGPT Enterprise, OpenAI is offering unlimited use of advanced models for an additional 60 days. Federal employees will also have access to a new government user community and tailored introductory training resources to get familiar with OpenAI's tools. Data security is a top priority for government agencies that are concerned about sensitive information being leaked into model training sets. TechCrunch has asked the GSA for details on how government data is being safeguarded, including whether measures like on-premises or private cloud deployments are being used to enhance security. 'The government is taking a cautious, security‑first approach to AI,' a GSA spokesperson told TechCrunch. 'This ensures sensitive information remains protected while enabling agencies to benefit from AI‑driven efficiencies.' OpenAI's discount comes a couple of weeks after the Trump administration published its AI Action Plan that seeks to boost data center buildouts and integrate more AI tools into government, among other things. It also follows a Trump executive order that bans 'woke AI' and AI models that aren't 'ideologically neutral' from government contracts. TechCrunch has reached out to OpenAI to learn more about its GSA partnership and how it will approach Trump's executive order. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Engadget
06-08-2025
- Business
- Engadget
OpenAI is giving ChatGPT Enterprise to the executive branch workforce for $1
OpenAI has announced that it will be partnering with the US General Services Administration (GSA) to offer ChatGPT Enterprise practically free of charge to the entire executive-branch federal workforce for one year. The dozens of agencies under this umbrella encompass over two million civilian workers. Each agency will be able to access ChatGPT Enterprise for $1 for the year-long period. The year-long trial will also include an additional 60 days of ChatGPT's most advanced models like Deep Research and Advanced Voice Mode with no use limits. This comes one day after the GSA approved OpenAI, Google and Anthropic for the federal AI vendor list. In the blog post announcing the partnership, OpenAI said: "This effort delivers on a core pillar of the Trump Administration's AI Action Plan by making powerful AI tools available across the federal government so that workers can spend less time on red tape and paperwork, and more time doing what they came to public service to do: serve the American people." Part of the administration's plan calls for any AI used in the federal government to be free of ideological bias, yet simultaneously President Trump's 'Preventing Woke AI' executive order directs that AI must not favor "ideological dogmas such as DEI." How OpenAI will deal with the administration's own ideological slant remains to be seen. Current attempts at creating a "maximally truth-seeking AI" have not gone as planned . According to Bloomberg , OpenAI will not use data from federal workers to train or improve ChatGPT. Addressing whether the $1 price point will buy future loyalty from the current administration, commissioner of the GSA's Federal Acquisition Service Josh Gruenbaum told Bloomberg that no agency would be required to renew after the first year. "These technologies are changing and evolving at breakneck speed. We don't want to commit ourselves. This is almost like it's a trial run in some ways." CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman had previously donated $1 million to President Trump's inauguration fund.
