OpenAI's new Canvas deal pushes AI deeper into schools

The big picture: The deal lets teachers build custom AI chatbots using OpenAI's models to assist with instruction, grading and assessing student progress.

• The collaboration embeds OpenAI's tech directly into Canvas, Instructure's platform designed for K-12 and higher ed.

Catch up quick: Canvas, founded in 2008, helps teachers with grading, tracking student progress, course creation and communication with students.

• Tens of millions of students and teachers worldwide use Canvas to manage course materials, assignments and class discussions, according to Instructure.
• Think of Canvas as a more robust version of Google Classroom.
• Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini and Perplexity are also available within Instructure's IgniteAI framework, which allows schools to integrate different genAI tools.

Between the lines: Educators will be able to create custom chatbots within Canvas.

• The new Canvas tool lets educators use natural language prompts to specify how the AI interacts with students, similar to creating custom GPTs in ChatGPT.
• Teachers will be able to set specific learning goals like mastering complex math problems or the proper structure for the four-paragraph essay.

The other side: Students are getting mixed messages on AI use. Until recently, using ChatGPT was banned in most schools and widely seen as cheating.

• Psychiatrists and pediatricians worry about use of genAI by teens or anyone else with a developing brain.
• Sixty-six percent of educators think generative AI will reduce students' attention spans, according to a survey of university presidents, chancellors, deans and more from the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) and Elon University's Imagining the Digital Future Center.

Context: Instructure says the OpenAI integration will give teachers visibility into how students used AI on assignments, including where in the chat students demonstrated key understanding of the material.

• "Educators can now assess how students think, not just what they produce," Instructure says.
• This is key to solving educators' and parents' biggest gripe with ChatGPT — that students are using it to cheat on everything.

• Visibility into how students used AI (or didn't) on their assignments could also solve their biggest pain point — being falsely accused of using ChatGPT to cheat.

Zoom out: OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Perplexity and other AI companies are locked in a mindshare race.

• Last month, Google announced Gemini Education, a version of its AI app customized for educators and students.
• Perplexity has partnered with K-12 schools and some colleges and universities to offer free versions designed for educational use.

The intrigue: Once users grow comfortable with a product that learns their preferences, they're unlikely to switch.

• As with previous tech adoption cycles like Windows vs. Mac, iPhone vs. Android or cloud providers, early choices can stick.
• If you've been training ChatGPT on all the details of your life for years and storing all of your data in its memory, you're unlikely to switch.

Yes, but: All the interactions students have with ChatGPT or any other third-party app within Canvas are owned by the educational institution, not Canvas or OpenAI or any other third-party provider.

What we're watching: The "free tutor for all" vision has yet to become a reality in the K-12 world of education, though it has shown some promise in higher ed, particularly in computer science.