Over 20,000 people including those scheduled for discharge, 1 year of free ChatGPT Plus benefits applied

OpenAI said more than 20,000 U.S. service members preparing to leave the military and veterans have received a free year of ChatGPT Plus over the past 12 months. The company disclosed the cumulative figure in an official post on the 11th but did not break out counting methodology, whether duplicate accounts were excluded, or how many recipients remain active. Eligibility is limited to U.S. veterans within 12 months of completing active duty and service members within 12 months of separation, so the benefit is not open to all veterans. The milestone signals OpenAI's push to lock in early-career users in the U.S. through a transition-period perk rather than a broad discount. Watch for OpenAI to publish active-user or retention data, and for whether the program expands beyond the 12-month window or to other markets.