University of Southern California to make ChatGPT Edu available to all students, faculty, and staff in 2026
The University of Southern California (USC) has shared that it will make ChatGPT Edu available free to all students, faculty and staff, starting in 2026.
Unlimited access to ChatGPT Edu, OpenAI’s specialist LLM designed for use in education, will be provided in a bid to promote responsible use of AI at the university.
In a statement, USC said: “As part of USC’s intention to lead in the responsible use of AI, we wanted to empower students, faculty, and staff with the most advanced forms of this technology so that they can develop greater facility and experience with both its power and its limitations.”
USC added that it hopes the roll out of ChatGPT Edu will:
Empower students: Ensures equitable access to GenAI that supports learning, creativity, and digital fluency.
Support faculty: Enables instructors to explore AI for teaching innovation, content creation, assessment support, and research collaboration — within secure parameters.
Accelerate research: Unlocks new possibilities for research and innovation in an environment that meets compliance standards.
Improve operations: Allows staff to be more productive and enhance the overall service experience across USC.
USC is also making additional AI resources available to all users to ensure they are up-to-date with best practices and training resources on how to make the most of the tool.
The news follows shortly after the University of Utah announced that it is offering free access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Edu to all of its students, faculty, and staff as it aims to promote responsible use of AI. The University of Utah is asking all students, faculty and staff to use ChatGPT Edu rather than their personal accounts to help them get the most out of the tool while still meeting university guidelines for its use.
