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OpenAI has unveiled a new initiative aimed at accelerating scientific research, mathematics and engineering by providing free access to its advanced artificial intelligence models for selected academic institutions and researchers worldwide.
The program, titled “ChatGPT for Academic Researchers,” will allow eligible researchers from universities and research organizations to use OpenAI’s most powerful AI models at no cost while receiving direct technical support from the company.
Under the initiative, participating researchers will gain access to OpenAI’s latest flagship model, GPT-5.6 Sol Pro, along with hands-on technical assistance to help integrate AI into their research projects.
Each registered account will also be able to add up to four collaborators from the same institution, enabling research teams to work together using the platform.
OpenAI plans to launch the program this summer with 10,000 researchers, with the goal of expanding participation to 100,000 researchers by 2027.
The initiative builds on the success of ChatGPT Edu, a version of the AI platform designed specifically for educational institutions.
Addressing concerns over data privacy, OpenAI said that confidential or private research data submitted through the program will not be used by default to train its AI models.
The company said it aims to provide the equivalent of $250 million in AI services to support external scientific research by 2027.
However, market analysts note that encouraging researchers to rely on OpenAI’s tools in their daily work could also strengthen the company’s long-term position in the commercial research sector and create new revenue opportunities.
The new initiative is the latest step in OpenAI’s effort to strengthen its role in academia.
Earlier this year, the company introduced Prism, an AI-powered tool that helps researchers verify citations, format documents in LaTeX and prepare drafts of scientific papers.
With the launch of the new free-access program, OpenAI is expected to further expand the use of AI in scientific research, making advanced AI tools more accessible to researchers around the world.