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California State University Bets $17 Million on ChatGPT for All Students and Faculty
California State University Bets $17 Million on ChatGPT for All Students and Faculty originally appeared on L.A. Mag.
California State University, the nation's largest public four-year system, will make OpenAI's ChatGPT available to all students and faculty starting this year. The effort is controversial, costing CSU almost $17 million, despite already having a $2.3 million budget gap, even with combative measures such as a tuition increase and spending cuts that have decreased course offerings for students. Across its 23 campuses, some CSU students are paying for personal ChatGPT subscriptions, so University officials say their decision to provide AI tools is a matter of equity. CSU wants each student to have equal access to tools and learning opportunities regardless of means or which campus they attend. The rise of AI has altered how students learn and professors teach, as each assignment is at risk of AI overpowering a student's knowledge. AI's ongoing influence has led professors to question the originality of student work, with a dramatic increase in academic misconduct claims, whether a student used the tool or not. AI has also threatened the potential of students in tech majors, making it essential for them to become fluent in ChatGPT. But if you can't beat them, join them.
Universities across the country have been establishing deals with OpenAI, even some public institutions. Among these universities are the CSU schools that serve nearly half a million students and have devoted more resources to generative AI than any other public university, both in terms of funding and reach. ChatGPT Edu, an OpenAI chatbot designed for college settings, is provided and tailored to each campus it serves. The academic chatbot offers a diverse range of tools for students and faculty, including access to ChatGPT-5, the company's flagship model, and the ability to make custom AI models. Researchers at Columbia University in New York City even built a prediction tool to assist with decreasing overdose fatalities, which, without the platform, would have taken weeks of research rather than mere seconds. ChatGPT Edu can also be used as a classic study catalyst, assisting students and faculty with their academic needs. The company suggests using personalized tutoring for students, helping with writing grant applications, and assisting faculty with anyone can have a version of ChatGPT for free, the academic version's possibilities are limitless, and the data is kept private and is not used to train future models.
More advanced ChatGPT Plus versions range from $20 to $200 a month. In the first half of this year, CSU paid $1.9 million to grant ChatGPT Edu to 40,000 users. Starting in July, the university system paid $15 million for a year's use for 500,000 users, securing a lower cost-per-student than other universities. Despite the major discount, CSU professors still have their concerns. 'For me, it's frightening,' said Kevin Wehr, a sociology professor at Sacramento State and chair of the California Faculty Association's bargaining team. 'I already have all sorts of problems with students engaging in plagiarism. This feels like it takes a shot of steroids and injects it in the arm of that particular beast.'Wehr also cautions that chatbots can often generate 'hallucinations' or inaccurate information, with many responses spreading racial and gender bias. CSU's financial struggles are also still in question. 'We are cutting programs. We are merging campuses. We are laying off faculty. We are making it harder for students to graduate,' Wehr said. And instead of using that money to ameliorate those issues, he added, 'we're giving it to the richest technology companies in the world."However, CSU is hopeful that the new addition will provide equitable access and prepare all students for a digitally advanced future.
This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Aug 19, 2025, where it first appeared.
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