CU signs $2M OpenAI deal for ChatGPT access
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The University of Colorado is giving students and faculty across all four of its campuses access to ChatGPT.
Why it matters: CU is betting that embracing AI — rather than restricting it — will level the playing field for students, prepare them for the modern workforce and address data security concerns head-on.
The latest: CU announced Wednesday that it has entered into a three-year agreement with OpenAI to provide ChatGPT Edu systemwide to all students, staff and faculty with CU emails.
- The contract includes $2 million annually in licensing costs to support up to 100,000 users.
- The CU system office will cover the first year. After that, each campus will decide how many licenses it wants to fund.
- Each campus and the system office will have their own, unique ChatGPT Edu environment.
Between the lines: Equity was the primary driver behind the decision to pursue a system-wide agreement, CU spokesperson Michelle Ames told Axios Boulder.
- "By investing at the system level, CU is helping remove barriers and ensuring that all members of our community can engage with these tools, regardless of discipline or background," CU president Todd Saliman said in a statement.
Behind the scenes: A CU AI working group recommended OpenAI in part because ChatGPT was already the most widely used AI tool among students and faculty, according to CU's AI website.
- Ames told us the ability with OpenAI to create five unique ChatGPT environments for the system's four campuses and its system office was a big selling point.
- OpenAI also agreed not to use any CU ChatGPT content to train its large language models.
How it works: Users can build custom GPTs and share them within their campus.
- CU will collect basic usage statistics but report data publicly only in aggregate.
- The university will not monitor individual interactions but retains the right to audit accounts in limited cases.
- Work produced using ChatGPT Edu may be subject to the Colorado Open Records Act.
What's next: Ames said the university expects students will have access to ChatGPT Edu by March.
Disclosure: Axios and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI to access part of Axios' story archives while helping fund the launch of Axios into four local cities and providing some AI tools. Axios has editorial independence.