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OpenAI and Government of Malta partner to roll out ChatGPT Plus to all citizens

https://openai.com/index/malta-chatgpt-plus-partnership/
41•bookofjoe•1h ago

Comments

mock-possum•1h ago
Smart move, just wish a more ethical outfit was making it.
rendx•1h ago
> "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•1h ago
> for one year

snort

dawnerd•27m ago
Gotta get them hooked and reliant on it. It’s why they subsidized the entire software industry to adopt it.
sauercrowd•1h ago
TL;DR: they made a course for citizens
zitterbewegung•1h ago
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•36m ago
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
preisschild•21m ago
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.
blfr•59m ago
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•47m ago
Thank you for this comment and holy cow, I have the pro subscription and didn't know it came with that many bells.
ecommerceguy•20m ago
I had a free 3 month trial I just terminated. I deemed it too expensive.
gwerbin•18m ago
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.
vovavili•17m ago
I wish Google had something like Codex app. To me, Gemini's output feel much more well-written, humane and mature than ChatGPT, and the bundling effects that you get with it are unreal. That said, I am way too used to tabs in Codex and SKILL.md-based workflow to go back.
alfiedotwtf•57m ago
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•55m ago
I'm not Maltese and I did find it interesting.
varispeed•56m ago
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•51m ago
Worse than that, it's bi-directional. The model's responses and tuning now influences a whole nation of people.
applfanboysbgon•49m ago
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•35m ago
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•19m ago
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•17m ago
> 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•12m ago
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.

ninjahawk1•51m ago
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•29m ago
> 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•26m ago
Is the electricity or natural gas that your body produces a defining feature of humanity?

Does AI actually provide intelligence?

raq98•23m ago
"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?
Muromec•29m ago
>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•25m ago
Is a dictionary intelligent?
hilariously•22m ago
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•15m ago
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•25m ago
> 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•20m ago
You can't talk to wikipedia either, but it exists and is helpful, yes.
pizza•29m ago
you can say the same thing of the watts in a person too
delusional•22m ago
> providing intelligence as a utility

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

neon_me•44m ago
... rather than that, they should prepay everyone a few hours of therapy and aroma sticks. A waaay more profit in the long game.
MagicMoonlight•43m ago
It’s a shame ChatGPT is total trash now.
Muromec•23m ago
Thanks CCP for having providing one that is as lying and flattering but cheaper.
syngrog66•42m ago
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•35m ago
Citation needed. I haven't heard of this.

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

collingreen•22m ago
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•16m ago
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.

rtlambh•41m ago
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•37m ago
Unfortunate thats the reputation we have :(
eska•32m ago
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•25m ago
Eyball scans are already there on the border for other people. So are AI turrets shooting people on sight, just a different border
musicale•41m ago
What could possibly go wrong?
decimalenough•27m ago
It's a one year free trial, after that it costs money.
1295817•10m ago
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.

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