The University of Oxford is encouraging its students to use a version of ChatGPT designed specifically for higher education.
The UK’s oldest university has become the first to offer free access to the tool for both students and staff. The students and staff will be given access to ChatGPT Edu, a version tailored for educational use.
Since the launch of ChatGPT, academics have expressed concerns that students might use it to cheat on exams or that it could undermine traditional learning methods.
Anne Trefethen, Oxford’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Digital, noted that “significant numbers of staff and students are already using generative AI tools.“
The university said the initiative aims to ensure students can make the most of a technology that is becoming increasingly important across society.
“University-wide access to ChatGPT Edu will support the development of rigorous academic skills and digital literacy, so that we prepare our graduates to thrive and lead by example in an AI-enabled world. Generative AI is also helping us to explore new ways of engaging with students, alongside our renowned face-to-face teaching and tutorial model, which emphasises critical thinking and contextual analysis,” said Freya Johnston, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education.
Oxford announced a five-year collaboration with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, in March of this year.
