If you’re a college student in the US or Canada facing down finals, then OpenAI has some good news for you. ChatGPT Plus, the premium version of the artificial intelligence chatbot, is free until May 31. The company has launched a webpage for the offer detailing who is eligible and what’s included.
ChatGPT Plus usually costs $20 a month, offering faster responses from the chatbot service without limits on things like image generation (which the company just started offering as a free service limited to a few uses at a time). Students from a degree-granting school in the US and Canada that qualifies will get access to ChatGPT Plus until the offer ends on May 31.
The student webpage includes a tool that allows you to see if your school qualifies, and to ask for assistance if your school isn’t on the list. ChatGPT also verifies you’re a student through a few methods listed on the site.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT service has seen a surge of popularity recently, in part due to its revamped image-generation tool. According to reports, ChatGPT has about 150 million active weekly users.
What can students use ChatGPT for?
Free access to ChatGPT’s revamped AI image generator and its other capabilities, such as research summaries and real-time conversations, will open the door to more AI familiarity, said Mark van Rijmenam, a strategic futurist and author of Future Visions.
«This will help students become more familiar with these powerful AI tools,» van Rijmenam said. «However, just giving access alone is not enough. We need to teach students how to use these tools and how to leverage them.»
Last year, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Edu, a version of its AI tools for universities. This, along with the free offer, may signal the company’s push into more educational efforts.
Van Rijmenam said that universities should adjust their curriculum «so instead of learning rote knowledge, which becomes less relevant in the age of AI, (they) teach students how to embrace AI responsibly.»
Students could also use AI to help manage their time to get the most out of balancing study plans, classes, work and life, but beware of the wrong reliance on AI: teachers and professors have ways of detecting when you’ve written something using AI.
