OpenAI Unveils UK Data Residency & Deals With UK Gov Amid WhatsApp Ban & More

At the beginning of the year, when United States President Donald Trump retook office, OpenAI was at the center of the country’s artificial intelligence (AI) development plan through the $500 billion Project Stargate—an initiative that hasn’t been a stranger to ups and downs.

A few days before the Project’s announcement by President Trump, OpenAI had published a 16-page document titled “AI in America: OpenAI's Economic Blueprint,” which outlined plans, provided advice, and revisited history in an attempt to influence US policymakers to invest more money in AI.

It was originally 15 pages before a February edit that focused on Advancing AI Education.

This idea was then extended to the European Union when OpenAI published the 21-page “EU Economic Blueprint” in April. It included a set of proposals that sought to help the EU leverage AI to drive economic growth in the region and “ensure that AI is developed and deployed by Europe, in Europe, for Europe.”

This was followed by “AI in Australia: OpenAI’s Economic Blueprint” in July 2026 (published on June 30), which was published in partnership with Mandala Partners. This consisted of “a clear, actionable plan for how Australia can unlock the full economic and social potential of artificial intelligence.”

Now, OpenAI has come out with “AI in Japan—OpenAI’s Japan Economic Blueprint” (published on October 22), an 18-page document that outlines how Japan can harness AI to accelerate innovation, strengthen competitiveness, and drive sustainable, inclusive growth; and “AI in South Korea—OpenAI’s Economic Blueprint” (published on October 23), which outlines policy proposals for how South Korea can maximize AI’s benefits and drive economic growth through a 27-page document.

Both come with priority areas for impact and detailed strategies on where the countries should focus, along with other pointers on how AI can benefit the country, its internal operations, economy, industries, and sector education efforts. It also highlights where OpenAI can help.

As such, OpenAI has been playing an active role in enhancing government operations in the U.S.—and through an MOU signed in July, also in the United Kingdom.

The goal of that MOU was to help more British people, businesses and institutions benefit from the potential of AI technology.

The two aim to “drive AI-led growth, accelerate adoption across the private and public sector, and expand the UK’s sovereign AI capabilities so that AI is widely available and served in the UK, for the UK.”

Now, the two are expanding their efforts by announcing a new agreement with the UK Ministry of Justice that would enable civil servants to use ChatGPT, helping them save time, work more efficiently, and deliver better public services.

It will bring access to ChatGPT Enterprise to 2,500 employees, while also supporting the department’s AI Action Plan for Justice⁠.

“Civil servants are using ChatGPT to improve public services and established firms are reimagining operations. We're proud to continue supporting the UK and the Government's AI plan,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

The new deal also comes with the option of UK data residency (from October 24) for British customers and developers using OpenAI’s API Platform, ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Edu.

The move will help them meet local data protection preferences or requirements. The Ministry of Justice will be the first to benefit from this offer.

Currently, data residency is available for Australia, Canada, Europe, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, and the U.S., with the company planning to offer more data residency regions soon.

OpenAI already powers several tools used by the UK government, including Humphrey, which is an AI assistant designed to ease the administrative burden on civil servants, and Consult, which automatically sorts public consultation responses and supports the policymaking process.

“Our partnership with OpenAI places Britain firmly in the driving seat of the global tech revolution—leading the world in innovation and using technology to deliver fairness and opportunity for every corner of the United Kingdom,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor David Lammy.

The U.K. is a top-five market globally for OpenAI paid subscribers and API developers.

Last month, OpenAI announced Stargate U.K., delivered in partnership with NVIDIA and Nscale, which aims to bring its world-leading AI models on local computing power.


Meanwhile, OpenAI said access to ChatGPT will no longer be available on WhatsApp after January 15, 2026, owing to a policy and terms change from WhatsApp.

The company says over 50 million people used ChatGPT on WhatsApp to chat, create, and learn.

The AI leader urged people to continue their conversations on iOS, Android, web, and ChatGPT Atlas on MacOS, which is an AI-focused browser that was released just days ago.

Do you think these moves will help OpenAI capture a commanding position in the United Kingdom AI industry?

Let us know in the comments below