OpenAI launches ChatGPT Edu, new subscription plan for universities

OpenAI announced ChatGPT Edu, a new subscription plan for universities this Thursday (30). The new package has been prepared to meet the demands of students, researchers, professors and university administrators, supported by the new GPT-4o.

According to OpenAI, ChatGPT can have numerous applications within a university’s routine. Chatbot can: provides students with study guides, reviews text and article summaries, and facilitates researchers’ work on more complex dissertations.

“Our university partners have found innovative ways to make AI accessible to students, professors, researchers and campus operations,” the company says.

By hiring ChatGPT Edu, the University guarantees:

• access to GPT-4.o;
• Advanced capabilities for data analysis, web navigation, and document summarization;
• Access to the “GPT creator”;
• The message limit is “significantly higher” than in the free version;
• Improved language capability of the chatbot, which can translate up to 50 languages;
• Better security, data privacy and administrative controls;
• Guarantee that interactions with the chatbot will not be used to train OpenAI models.

Currently, universities use ChatGPT to quickly prepare and summarize scientific papers, facilitate topic research, and much more. All ChatGPT Edu features are designed to meet these demands.

OpenAI tries to make money with ChatGPT

While universities can use ChatGPT Edu to optimize workflow in a variety of ways, it also provides another way for OpenAI to monetize the platform. Since the proliferation of ChatGPT, the company has continually sought to create paid products derived from the technology to generate revenue from the end consumer.

This is because charging for using ChatGPT is extremely complex, especially considering the variety of similar products available for free on the web. If the user cannot pay for ChatGPT Plus, they can opt for Microsoft Copilot from Google (also derived from OpenAI models) or even Gemini.

When building enterprise or student products, OpenAI opens the door to another sales channel that is more profitable and has a wider reach. In this way, ChatGPT becomes a more useful virtual assistant than a simple chat screen accessible through the browser.

Since it is a product for educational institutions, its price is negotiated directly with OpenAI. Universities interested in ChatGPT Edu should contact the company’s sales team to negotiate a subscription.