The "India-first" initiative, a major push into the education sector, will provide access to teachers and students while funding research at IIT Madras.
OpenAI has announced a major, "India-first" initiative aimed at integrating advanced AI into the country's education system. Called the OpenAI Learning Accelerator, the program will distribute 500,000 free ChatGPT licenses to teachers and students across government schools and technical institutions. This move is part of the company's broader strategy to support India, which it calls a "lighthouse" for its global education efforts.
The free licenses, provided in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and ARISE member schools, are intended to empower educators with tools for lesson planning and student engagement. For students, the program will offer access to advanced features like "Study Mode," which guides them through problem-solving with interactive questioning instead of simply providing answers.
Beyond the free licenses, the initiative includes a new research collaboration with IIT Madras, backed by a $500,000 (approximately ₹4.25 crore) grant from OpenAI. The long-term study will explore how AI influences teaching practices, learning outcomes, and cognitive development. Findings from this research will be publicly shared to inform both pedagogy and future AI product design.
OpenAI's latest move highlights its increasing focus on the Indian market, which already has the largest student population of ChatGPT users globally. This comes on the heels of other India-centric announcements, including a new office in New Delhi, the launch of an affordable "ChatGPT Go" plan with UPI payment support, and enhanced Indic language capabilities in its new GPT-5 model.
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