ChatGPT Plus Is Now Free For College Students
ChatGPT Plus Is Now Free For College Students
College students will receive free access to ChatGPT Plus. This deal for students, announced today by OpenAI, will be for those in the United States and Canada and will last until the end of May. It arrives at a critical moment. Finals season. The offer includes access to GPT-4o, image generation, advanced voice mode and research tools typically available only to paying subscribers.
College students already represent one of ChatGPT's most active user groups, with over one-third of U.S. adults aged 18 to 24 using the platform. About 25 percent of their queries relate to academic work. These queries show that students are not simply testing features, but building habits and reshaping how they study, revise and explore ideas.
The move from OpenAI reflects a shift in how artificial intelligence is being positioned within education. This week, Anthropic launched Claude for Education, a version of its AI assistant tailored for universities. It includes features like Learning Mode, which promotes critical thinking through guided problem-solving and is being rolled out in partnership with institutions such as Northeastern University and London School of Economics.
Free access to ChatGPT Plus during finals season will likely deepen the usage of ChatGPT among students. It also ensures that those who cannot afford advanced subscription tools still have the opportunity to access high-performing AI.Leah Belsky, VP of education at OpenAI, explained that 'Today's college students face enormous pressure to learn faster, tackle harder problems and enter a workforce increasingly shaped by AI. Supporting their AI literacy means more than demonstrating how these tools work. It requires creating space for students to engage directly, experiment, learn from peers and ask their own questions.'
To support this access, OpenAI is introducing learning resources alongside ChatGPT Plus. The OpenAI Academy is designed to build student fluency in AI concepts. ChatGPT Lab also offers a place where students can exchange ideas and prompts. This shows a move toward infrastructure as well as access.
We can't ignore the impact of artificial intelligence generally on the higher education sector. As these tools become a part of life, universities and colleges will need to answer some serious questions about how they assess learning. Will the answer be more exams, maybe 'AI-proof' assignments or more authentic assessments that prioritize creativity and critical thinking?
The OpenAI initiative also responds to concerns about inequality. Students at some institutions may have better access to premium tools. The California State University system recently partnered with OpenAI to launch the largest deployment of AI in higher education to date. For students facing financial or geographic barriers, this temporary offer could close part of the gap.
It also encourages digital literacy. Students gain experience using AI in thoughtful ways. That kind of hands-on exposure can help prepare them for future work environments where AI plays a central role.
There are questions about what happens after May. Access reverts to a subscription model. Students who grow reliant on the tool may feel pressure to continue at a cost. While OpenAI allows students to cancel before being charged, the transition could be disruptive unless other supports are introduced.
This is not the final word on AI in education. But it is a meaningful step. OpenAI is not just offering access. It is making a statement about what students need and what education could become.
If this offer helps more students think deeply, study smarter and build digital fluency, it may signal the start of a broader transformation. Not because AI replaces teachers or institutions, but because it may support students in the moments that matter most.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Exclusive: Binance CEO responds to IPO plans
Exclusive: Binance CEO responds to IPO plans originally appeared on TheStreet. In an interview with TheStreet Roundtable, when asked about a potential Binance IPO, Richard Teng replied, 'I'm too old to say never say never, right?' He added that any decision of this scale 'are very important corporate decisions that we have to discuss at the board of directors level and discuss with the shareholders what's the intention.' Richard Teng was appointed CEO of Binance in November 2023 — taking over from founder Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao after his U.S. settlement. He had previously led Binance Singapore since August 2021 and served as CEO of the Abu Dhabi Global Market and in senior roles at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, bringing over three decades of financial services and regulatory experience to the exchange. Teng underscored that any listing would need to reflect the strong user demand that underpins Binance's growth. 'What we aim to do as a platform is to continue to be the best platform for our users,' he said. He noted that 'we exist only because our users continue to have strong confidence and trust in us.' Stablecoin issuer Circle debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on June 5, pricing its IPO at $31 per share and opening at $69. The stock closed its first day at $83.23 with a 168% gain after upsizing the deal to raise $1.05 billion, valuing the company at roughly $18 billion on a fully diluted basis. Gemini, the Winklevoss-founded crypto exchange, confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering on June 6, signaling its intent to list. Details on share count and pricing remain under wraps, but the filing underscores growing investor appetite for crypto natives in public markets. Teng also pointed out that 'we have seen a sharp growth in terms of user numbers throughout the world, both institution and new retail users coming to us.' He said the board would factor that momentum into its deliberations on timing and structure. Teng emphasized that an IPO must align with Binance's mission to serve its users. He said the company will only proceed when the board and shareholders agree on the path forward — leaving timing open and dependent on collective oversight. Teng disclosed that Binance secured its first institutional investment from MGX, a sovereign-backed investor in Abu Dhabi's AI data center sector. He said MGX made a minority investment of $2 billion in stablecoin — marking the largest crypto-area deal paid in stablecoin and Binance's first institutional backing. While the company remains in a 'very healthy financial shape,' Teng stressed that this capital will support ongoing innovation, security and compliance efforts. Exclusive: Binance CEO responds to IPO plans first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 9, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
Sam Altman says the energy needed for an average ChatGPT query can power a lightbulb for a few minutes
Altman was writing about the impact that AI tools will have on the future in a blog post on Tuesday when he referenced the energy and resources consumed by OpenAI's chatbot, ChatGPT. "People are often curious about how much energy a ChatGPT query uses; the average query uses about 0.34 watt-hours, about what an oven would use in a little over one second, or a high-efficiency lightbulb would use in a couple of minutes," Altman wrote. "It also uses about 0.000085 gallons of water; roughly one-fifteenth of a teaspoon," he continued. Altman wrote that he expects energy to "become wildly abundant" in the 2030s. Energy, along with the limitations of human intelligence, have been "fundamental limiters on human progress for a long time," Altman added. "As data center production gets automated, the cost of intelligence should eventually converge to near the cost of electricity," he wrote. OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. This is not the first time Altman has predicted that AI will become cheaper to use. In February, Altman wrote on his blog that the cost of using AI will drop by 10 times every year. "You can see this in the token cost from GPT-4 in early 2023 to GPT-4o in mid-2024, where the price per token dropped about 150x in that time period," Altman wrote. "Moore's law changed the world at 2x every 18 months; this is unbelievably stronger," he added. Tech companies hoping to dominate in AI have been considering using nuclear energy to power their data centers. In September, Microsoft signed a 20-year deal with Constellation Energy to reactivate one of the dormant nuclear plants located in Three Mile Island. In October, Google said it had struck a deal with Kairos Power, a nuclear energy company, to make three small modular nuclear reactors. The reactors, which will provide up to 500 megawatts of electricity, are set to be ready by 2035. Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, said in an interview with Nikkei Asia published in October that the search giant wants to achieve net-zero emissions across its operations by 2030. He added that besides looking at nuclear energy, Google was considering solar energy.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Saab and Helsing pit AI-piloted warplane against real fighter pilot
By Tim Hepher PARIS (Reuters) -Sweden's Saab and German defence startup Helsing have conducted combat testing of a Gripen E warplane flown by AI against a real fighter pilot, they said on Wednesday, in a step forward in European efforts to compete on autonomy in defence. Last week's trial is the first publicly known instance of artificial intelligence being tested in a warplane beyond visual range (BVR) rather than in a close-range dogfight, or that AI has controlled a fully fledged jet rather than a test plane. In May last year, then-U.S. Air Force secretary Frank Kendall flew in a modified F-16 called X-62A VISTA fitted with machine learning supplied by Shield AI to demonstrate the ability of AI to enter aerial battle with a crewed F-16. The European trials, known as "Project Beyond", included three flights carried out between May 28 and June 3, the last of which pitted Helsing's "Centaur" AI agent piloting a Gripen E against a human-operated Gripen D fighter jet, the companies said. Funded by the Swedish government, the trial was inconclusive on whether the human Top Gun or the AI-powered foe performed better, but the trial highlights an increasing focus on integrating AI and autonomy into combat systems. "I would say it is not a given who will win... you have to be on your game as a pilot," Saab's Chief Innovation Officer Marcus Wandt, who is also a Swedish astronaut and ex-fighter pilot, told reporters. "If you need to retrain for a new weapon system or new tactics, it will be difficult to stay on par. Right now there are still pilots out there that will have a chance, but that will change fast." NEXT-GEN COMBAT JETS The trial comes as Saab is exploring concepts for the next generation of combat jets expected to combine crewed and uncrewed planes, under Sweden's KFS future air combat study. Sweden has not decided whether to continue to pursue its own independent fighter plane as a successor to Saab's home-grown Gripen. It was previously involved with Britain's Tempest fighter project, but pulled back to focus on its own research as the programme widened to include Japan and Italy. The other major European fighter in the works is the Franco-German-Spanish fighter programme widely known as SCAF. Kendall, who stepped down with the outgoing Biden administration after leading the U.S. next-generation fighter project that laid the groundwork for the recently launched F-47, has said AI decision-making will routinely overpower humans. However, Western projects for incorporating AI into weapons systems call for humans to be able to intervene at some point. Saab and Helsing executives said the AI initiative exemplified the need for fast development timelines and dismissed the 10- or 15-year timetables of rival projects. Details of their trial were unveiled ahead of next week's Paris Airshow, following months of simulator work in which the executives said the Centaur AI agent was fed the equivalent of 30 years' of experience every week. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
