Fact-Check: No, OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus Isn't Free For All UAE Residents

Some news headlines and social media chatter have stirred excitement—and confusion—over whether all UAE residents now get free access to ChatGPT Plus as part of OpenAI's latest expansion.

What Happened: OpenAI has partnered with the UAE to integrate ChatGPT across various public sectors, including education, healthcare and government services.

This initiative marks the UAE as the first country to roll out nationwide use of ChatGPT.

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The collaboration is also tied to the ambitious Stargate project, a 10-square-mile AI data center under construction in Abu Dhabi, involving partners such as G42, Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL), Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO).

Some media outlets reported that all UAE residents would receive free access to ChatGPT Plus, the premium version of OpenAI's chatbot. However, OpenAI has not confirmed this.

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UAE becomes the first country globally to provide free ChatGPT Plus access to all residents and citizens.

UAE partners with OpenAI to offer free ChatGPT Plus access nationwide, as part of the Stargate UAE initiative to build the world's largest AI supercomputing cluster, backed… pic.twitter.com/B87F0LFUlj

— Rohan Paul (@rohanpaul_ai) May 26, 2025

The company did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments.

At present, UAE users can access the free version of ChatGPT (GPT-3.5), noted Gulf News, while the ChatGPT Plus subscription remains priced at $20 per month—unless an official update says otherwise.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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