OpenAI and UK government expand data residency for ChatGPT in the UK

OpenAI and the UK government announced on Thursday an expanded partnership that will allow British customers, businesses and government departments to store ChatGPT data on servers in the United Kingdom for the first time, with the data residency option scheduled to launch on 24 October 2025. The Ministry of Justice will be the first department to adopt the offering and will provide 2,500 civil servants with access to ChatGPT Enterprise, officials said.

The new UK data residency feature will allow customer content to be stored at rest within the chosen region and covers files, image generation, conversations, the code interpreter, data analysis, canvas, ChatGPT Memory and custom GPTs, according to government statements. The agreement includes caveats that some information may still be processed or held outside the selected region, including workspace metadata, third party connectors and transient processing steps required for service functionality.

Deputy Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor David Lammy said the partnership "places Britain firmly in the driving seat of the global tech revolution, leading the world in innovation and using technology to deliver fairness and...