OpenAI 把马耳他变成 AI 试验田：一个国家级 AI 实验的开始

On May 16, 2026,

a piece of news that looked small

could actually change the world.

OpenAI and the small European country of Malta

signed a partnership.

The content of the deal is simple:

every Maltese citizen

can use ChatGPT Plus for free for one year.

ChatGPT Plus is OpenAI's best AI product.

About two hundred yuan a month.

That's over two thousand yuan a year.

Malta has about six hundred thousand people.

Six hundred thousand times two thousand

equals over a billion.

That is to say:

OpenAI is effectively gifting Malta over a billion yuan worth of service.

Why?

To understand why,

we need to look at three questions.

First, what does OpenAI want?

Second, why is Malta willing?

Third, what will this bring?

Let's start with the first.

What does OpenAI want?

OpenAI is the biggest AI company in the world.

They made ChatGPT.

They also made many other things.

But they have a problem now:

how to get more countries,

more governments,

to trust them

and use their AI.

If only individuals use it,

the impact is limited.

For AI to really change the world,

governments have to come on board.

So OpenAI started a new program,

called "OpenAI for Countries."

The goal of this program is:

to partner with countries one by one,

making AI part of the nation.

Malta

is the first country in this program.

So why Malta?

Why not Germany, France, Japan, India?

That's the second question.

Why is Malta willing?

Malta is an unusually small country.

Much smaller than Beijing.

Only about six hundred thousand people.

Precisely because it's small,

new things are easy to do.

A new policy

can be done in a few months.

In China or the US,

it might take ten years.

And Malta wanted this.

Malta's Deputy Prime Minister,

who is also the Foreign Minister,

is called Ian Borg.

He himself flew to Silicon Valley,

met with people from OpenAI,

and negotiated this partnership.

Malta's Economy Minister, Silvio Schembri, said:

"We want to turn AI,

"from an unfamiliar concept,

"into a tool families, students, and workers can use.

The head of OpenAI for Countries is George Osborne.

He used to be the UK's finance minister,

and now he helps OpenAI negotiate these national deals.

He said:

"Malta is leading Europe,

"and leading the world.

"Where Malta goes,

"other countries will follow.

But this deal has one condition.

Not every Maltese person

can use ChatGPT today.

To use it,

you have to learn first.

Learn what?

The University of Malta made a course,

called "AI for All."

Everyone can take it.

Free.

After you finish it,

you can use ChatGPT Plus for one year.

This design is important.

OpenAI and Malta both understand:

giving AI directly to everyone,

with no one teaching how to use it,

could go wrong.

Some people will let AI do their work.

Some people will use AI to write false things.

Some people will believe everything AI says,

without thinking themselves.

So Malta says:

learn how to use it first,

then use it.

This is a reminder for every country.

Now let's talk about the third question.

What will this bring?

In the short term,

several changes.

First,

Malta's people

will get more used to AI.

Students writing homework with AI.

Workers writing documents with AI.

Families looking things up with AI.

Second,

other countries will be watching Malta.

If Malta does well,

other countries will want to do this too.

Singapore, Estonia, the UAE

are all possible next ones.

Third,

for China,

this is a reminder.

China has its own AI.

DeepSeek,

Tongyi,

Doubao,

Kimi.

They're all very good AI.

Chinese AI companies

can also do partnerships like Malta's.

They can partner with other countries too.

But this deal has worrying aspects too.

First,

the trust question.

OpenAI is an American company.

All Maltese questions,

all conversations,

will pass through OpenAI's computers.

Will the US take this information,

and do other things with it?

OpenAI says no.

But that kind of worry

won't disappear right away.

Second,

the learning question.

If children use AI from a young age,

will their own brains get duller?

Will they still think for themselves?

Scientists are researching this.

There's no answer yet.

Third,

the fairness question.

Malta can afford this

because Malta is small,

six hundred thousand people.

China, with 1.4 billion,

can't afford it.

India can't either.

So this kind of nationwide free AI

is something only small countries can do.

Big countries have to find other ways.

Finally,

I want to say one thing:

May 16

is a small day in AI history.

Not because OpenAI released a new model.

Not because AI got more powerful again.

It's because,

for the first time,

a country said:

"All our citizens

"should have AI.

That's a big idea.

If this idea becomes real,

then in the future,

the best AI will no longer be only for rich people.

Everyone can use it.

We'll see, a year from now,

what Malta has become.

Okay.

That's all for today.

See you in the next story.