We present an overview of the first data release (DR1) and first-look science from the Green Bank Ammonia Survey (GAS). GAS is an ambitious Large Program at the Green Bank Telescope to map all Gould Belt starforming regions with Av & 7 visible from the northern hemisphere in emission from NH3 and other key molecular tracers. This first release includes the data for four regions in Gould Belt clouds: B18 in Taurus, NGC 1333 in Perseus, L1688 in Ophiuchus, and Orion A North in Orion. We find that the NH3 emission is generally extended beyond the typical 0.1 pc length scales found in dense cores. Thanks to these observations we can finally explore the sharp transition between the supersonic turbulence in molecular clouds and the subsonic turbulence inside cores in a systematic fashion across different environments. We also present the initial analysis of the abundance variation of NH3 at different column densities, a comparison of the gas and dust temperatures across the clouds different clouds in this release and how they vary with increasing star formation activity.