Over the past year, OpenAI has offered a complimentary year of ChatGPT Plus to more than 20,000 transitioning servicemembers and veterans. As Veterans Day approaches, the company highlights how recipients are using AI tools to prepare for civilian careers and plan next steps for themselves and their families.
Trainings and community partnerships
OpenAI Academy and community partners have run over a dozen trainings for nearly 1,000 members of the military community, and seven additional events are scheduled before the end of the year. Partners mentioned include Veterans Forge, AI Collective Hampton Roads, NPower and the American Legion.
Using AI to translate military experience into civilian careers
Leaving the military typically means entering an unfamiliar job market and finding ways to convert years of service into roles that civilian employers understand. Many veterans report using ChatGPT to organize job searches, rehearse interviews, and investigate career paths they had not previously considered.
-
Tilak Bhatnagar, an Air Force veteran, used his free year of ChatGPT Plus to prepare for about a dozen interviews, craft civilian-facing descriptions of his military experience, and compare job offers. He said the consecutive conversations helped him refine his goals and ultimately take a position at a technology company.
-
Sadarian Bell, also an Air Force veteran, began planning more than a year before leaving the service. He used ChatGPT to map his transition and to convert nearly a decade of military healthcare experience into a civilian résumé. To prepare for interviews he practiced aloud in ChatGPT’s voice mode, working through questions until his responses felt natural.
-
Kelli Ramirez, a Navy veteran, used the transition to pursue a long-standing goal of becoming a published author. Having taken a book-writing course, she used ChatGPT to organize ideas, ask questions about publishing, and navigate the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing process. She has since published two books aimed at helping women engage confidently with technology and, for readers who share her Christian faith, to do so with grounded wisdom.
In-person workshops, online resources and instructors
OpenAI Academy provides veterans, transitioning servicemembers and military spouses a setting to learn AI tools with peers who understand their experiences. A six-event Academy series in partnership with Veterans Forge recently concluded; that pilot plus workshops with AI Collective Hampton Roads and NPower are informing future offerings.
At a workshop in Reston, Virginia, nearly 100 veterans and active-duty servicemembers explored practical AI applications. Participant Ryan Kaono-Wedemeyer reported learning to start by writing a detailed account of his military experience, then asking AI to shape it into a civilian résumé. Instructor Erin Marie helped attendees build custom GPTs to support their transitions and observed skeptical participants begin to find concrete uses for the tools.
In Louisville, Kentucky, more than 80 Legionnaires attended three AI training sessions at the American Legion’s national convention. For those unable to attend in person, OpenAI maintains an online veterans collection and a set of “100 chats for veterans” that provide examples people can try on their own.
Upcoming November events
OpenAI is continuing the work around the country with events scheduled in November:
- November 12, 2024: NPower event in St. Louis
- November 14, 2024: Nashville event with Veterans Forge and Wounded Warrior Project
- November 17, 2024: 30-minute virtual session
- November 19, 2024: NPower event in Dallas
- November 21, 2024: NPower event in San Antonio
Aim and acknowledgements
The initiative is intended to help veterans and military families carry the skills they developed in service into their next chosen work. OpenAI thanked ID.me for assisting servicemembers and veterans to access the free-year offer, and acknowledged community partners for enabling the in-person and virtual trainings.
On Veterans Day, OpenAI expressed gratitude to veterans for their service and for their contributions to communities. People interested can check eligibility for a free year of ChatGPT Plus.
