£2 Billion Price Tag Halts Ambitious Plan to Give Every Brit ChatGPT Plus

A proposal to give the entire UK population access to ChatGPT Plus, the premium version of the popular AI chatbot, was halted by its potential £2 billion cost. The idea was raised in a meeting between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, but was reportedly dismissed as financially unfeasible.
The discussion occurred as part of a wider dialogue in San Francisco concerning the UK’s role in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. Giving every citizen a subscription, which currently costs $20 a month per user, would have represented a massive public investment in artificial intelligence, intended to democratise access to advanced AI tools.
Despite the proposal not moving forward, it underscores the significant enthusiasm within the UK government for AI. Technology Secretary Kyle is a known advocate for the technology, having previously admitted to using ChatGPT for work-related advice and championing its potential as a learning tool. His meetings with Altman signal a close and ongoing relationship between UK policymakers and Silicon Valley’s leading firms.
The government has officially stated it does not recognise the claims and has not taken any such proposal forward. However, the talks themselves reveal the scale of ambition in the UK’s strategy to become an AI superpower, even as concerns about copyright, privacy, and the influence of Big Tech continue to grow.