The University of Sydney is set to provide all students and staff with free access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Edu under a new multi-year agreement aimed at preparing graduates for an increasingly AI-driven workforce.
The institution-wide rollout will give students and staff secure and equitable access to the enterprise version of ChatGPT, alongside training and support to help them use AI critically, responsibly and effectively.
University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor and President Prof. Mark Scott said the initiative was designed to ensure graduates were equipped for the changing world of work while giving researchers access to advanced AI tools.
“It’s our responsibility to graduate students who are well equipped for the modern world of work.”
The university said ChatGPT Edu would complement, rather than replace, its existing AI education platform Cogniti, which will remain the preferred classroom tool for educators.
The university is also maintaining its focus on academic integrity through its “two-lane” assessment approach. Students will continue to demonstrate their knowledge and capabilities through supervised assessments while using AI appropriately in open, unsupervised assessments.
Prof. Scott said the goal was to help students develop AI literacy alongside human capabilities including judgement, creativity, ethical awareness and adaptability.
“Free access to ChatGPT Edu, alongside other platforms including Cogniti, supports a level playing field for AI use.”
The university said ChatGPT Edu would allow students to collaborate on group learning activities, develop ideas, brainstorm, conduct advanced information analysis and ask questions while building practical AI skills.
Alongside the OpenAI agreement, the University of Sydney is establishing a $1 million AI Sustainability Research and Innovation Fund to investigate ways to understand, measure and reduce the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence.
The fund will draw on the university’s multidisciplinary research capabilities, including work across engineering, science, medicine and health, business, law and social sciences.
OpenAI Managing Director for APAC Kiran Mani said the university was making a significant investment in preparing students for the future.
The university said the ChatGPT Edu rollout would be staged, with additional capabilities introduced progressively. University data will not be used to train models, while pilots, focus groups and AI training will form part of the implementation.
The rollout will be guided by the University of Sydney’s Responsible AI Framework, which establishes principles and safeguards for the adoption and use of AI across the institution.
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