Latest news with #ClaudeforEducation
Axios
07-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
Northeastern University joins AI-higher ed experiment
Northeastern University partnered with the company behind Claude to test how AI can be incorporated into the college curriculum. The big picture: Northeastern is among three colleges globally that will test Anthropic's new learning tool under Claude for Higher Education, which aims to help teach users instead of offering shortcuts to an answer. Driving the news: All Northeastern students, faculty and staff will get access to the premier version of Claude, including the new "learning mode" that's central to Claude for Education. Instead of answering a prompt, Claude's "learning mode" asks users how they would answer a question and what proof they have to back it up. Northeastern will host workshops next week for students, faculty and staff who want to learn to use AI in their fields of study. Anthropic also announced partnerships with the London School of Economics and Champlain College, VentureBeat reported. By the numbers: Northeastern will give premier Claude access to nearly 49,000 students across its 13 campuses. Another 3,500 faculty and 4,900 staff members will also have access. What they're saying: Javed Aslam, chief of AI at Northeastern, says the AI could help students create study guides, quizzes on course materials and other resources. He also wants professors to take advantage of the new technology. "Part of our mission as a university is to really rethink how it is that we do both teaching and learning in the presence of AI," Aslam tells Axios. "It's really on both those fronts." Yes, but: That also means another 50,000 people may be using energy to generate text- or image-based responses, though it's still hard to tell exactly how much energy a session with an AI model typically uses. Northeastern formed an AI working group that will analyze the best way to incorporate AI into the curriculum, which may also help inform how Claude for Education can improve higher education. Zoom out: The partnership is the latest example of a college embracing AI.
Forbes
07-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Inside OpenAI's Ambitious AI Academy
Inside OpenAI's Ambitious AI Education Academy SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images OpenAI has just quietly turned its Academy into a training space for anyone with a question about AI. There are sessions designed for teachers and students, job seekers and small business owners. The online platform launched this week with one goal in mind: make AI education free, flexible and widely accessible. And this time, the company isn't just targeting tech workers. It's speaking to the rest of us. The platform includes tutorials, real-life case studies, hands-on exercises and self-paced professional development modules. Everything is free and it is designed to be practical. This is the latest in a series of announcements by AI companies to further penetrate the education space. Last week, OpenAI made ChatGPT Plus free to all college students until the end of May and Anthropic launched Claude for Education, a version of its AI assistant tailored for universities. The AI tech giant is not just creating content. It is also focusing on community. The Academy now hosts spaces where learners can connect, discuss and collaborate. For educators familiar with professional learning communities, the model will feel familiar. What stands out is how the Academy is being used. Colleges are integrating it into their curriculum. Nonprofits are tailoring it to serve marginalized communities. Workforce centers are using it to train career advisors on how AI can support job seekers. These partnerships matter. They make the platform more than just a digital library. They make it adaptable. Relevant. Local. There's also a growing focus on accessibility. OpenAI is working to translate its content into multiple languages and expand partnerships across Latin America and Asia. This is important. AI isn't a Western technology. It's global. And the ability to understand and use it should be global, too. Of course, OpenAI isn't the only one pushing into education. Google's 'Grow with Google' initiative and Microsoft's AI learning tracks are also growing fast. These platforms are building around their own tools of Gemini and Copilot. Tech companies now see education as a core responsibility. That brings up questions worth asking. Can AI literacy be truly neutral when it's delivered by the companies that build the tools? Are we teaching people to think critically about AI or just training them to use it? What's undeniable is that AI is moving away from niche audiences. It's part of how students write essays, how teachers plan lessons, how job seekers craft CVs. It's everywhere. The need for education on how to use AI well is urgent. Some schools are still asking if AI should be in classrooms. That's no longer the right question. It's here. It's in the tools students already use. The question now is whether we're doing enough to help people understand it. OpenAI's new Academy doesn't solve that challenge. But it makes a serious attempt to meet it. It's not just a learning platform. It's a signal. A statement that AI education is not a luxury. It's basic infrastructure. Now it's up to educators, communities and learners to take the lead.
Forbes
03-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
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 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.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Anthropic launches an AI chatbot plan for colleges and universities
Anthropic announced on Wednesday that it's launching a new Claude for Education tier, an answer to OpenAI's ChatGPT Edu plan. The new tier is aimed at higher education, and gives students, faculty, and other staff access to Anthropic's AI chatbot, Claude, with a few additional capabilities. One piece of Claude for Education is "Learning Mode," a new feature within Claude Projects to help students develop their own critical thinking skills, rather than simply obtain answers to questions. With Learning Mode enabled, Claude will ask questions to test understanding, highlight fundamental principles behind specific problems, and provide potentially useful templates for research papers, outlines, and study guides. Claude for Education may help Anthropic boost its revenue. The company already reportedly brings in $115 million a month, but it's looking to double that in 2025 while directly competing with OpenAI in the education space. Anthropic has historically tended to match OpenAI's offerings, and this launch is no exception. Anthropic says Claude for Education comes with its standard chat interface, as well as "enterprise-grade" security and privacy controls. In a press release shared with TechCrunch ahead of launch, Anthropic said university administrators can use Claude to analyze enrollment trends and automate repetitive email responses to common inquiries. Meanwhile, students can use Claude for Education in their studies, the company suggested, such as working through calculus problems with step-by-step guidance from the AI chatbot. To help universities integrate Claude into their systems, Anthropic says it's partnering with the company Instructure, which offers the popular education software platform Canvas. The AI startup is also teaming up with Internet2, a nonprofit organization that delivers cloud solutions for colleges. Anthropic says that it has already struck "full campus agreements" with Northeastern University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Champlain College to make Claude for Education available to all students. Northeastern is a design partner — Anthropic says it's working with the institution's students, faculty, and staff to build best practices for AI integration, AI-powered education tools, and frameworks. Anthropic hopes to strike more of these contracts, in part through new student ambassador and AI "builder" programs, to capitalize on the growing number of students using AI in their studies. A 2024 survey from the Digital Education Council found that 54% of university students use generative AI every week. Claude for Education deals could help Anthropic get more young people familiar with its tools, while well-funded universities pay for it. It's not yet clear what sort of impact AI might have on education — or whether it's a desirable addition to the classroom. Research is mixed, with some studies finding that AI can be a helpful tutor and others suggesting it might harm critical thinking skills. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Sign in to access your portfolio
