Accelerating scientific discovery with ChatGPT for Academic Researchers

We believe the benefits of frontier AI should not be concentrated in a few companies and well-resourced labs. Scientific progress depends on researchers asking the right questions, testing new ideas, and building on what others have discovered. Our role is to put powerful tools in their hands—and work alongside them to design models that accelerate their research while keeping them in control.

We’re introducing ChatGPT for Academic Researchers, a program that will give 100,000 researchers at selected academic institutions free access to our frontier models. The program will help researchers across the sciences, mathematics, and engineering take on advanced problems, accelerate discovery, and improve productivity, from preparing grant applications to testing hypotheses.

We’re starting with 10,000 researchers this summer, with access already available at institutions such as the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) and École normale supérieure (ENS). We plan to expand to 100,000 researchers through 2027. Participants will have access to our frontier models, including GPT‑5.6⁠ Sol Pro at launch, and can invite up to four collaborators from their institution. Workspaces include business-grade privacy and security protections, and data is not used to train our models by default. Researchers can use tools and skills to support work ranging from genomic analysis and protein modeling to literature reviews, grant writing, and publishing.

The program also includes training, hands-on support, and opportunities to learn from other researchers and share feedback with us.

For institutions with ChatGPT Edu, free access granted through this program will be coordinated through the institution's workspace. Learn more about ChatGPT Edu and how OpenAI supports higher education.

ChatGPT for Academic Researchers is part of a commitment of more than $250 million through 2027 to support external scientific research and discovery. That includes NextGenAI, our $50 million initiative supporting research institutions, and our work with the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission⁠ to bring frontier AI to researchers at national laboratories and universities. Together, these efforts reflect our belief that scientific progress accelerates when more researchers have the tools to pursue their own ideas.

AI is becoming a more capable research tool faster than many expected. Each week, roughly 1.3 million people use ChatGPT for advanced science and mathematics, generating about 8.4 million messages.

The shift is especially visible in mathematics. In the past six months, AI has moved from occasional use on isolated problems to a more regular part of mathematical research. A growing number of papers now acknowledge ChatGPT’s contribution, reflecting how quickly researchers are adopting these tools in their work.

Researchers use ChatGPT and Codex across nearly every stage of scientific work. ChatGPT helps researchers interrogate ideas, acquire knowledge, generate hypotheses, and communicate their findings. Codex supports research execution and formal analysis, including writing code and analyzing results.

These patterns are showing up in research. Physicist Rogerio Jorge and his team are using AI to develop open-source fusion research software used by industry and national laboratories to design fusion energy devices. In theoretical computer science, researchers Barna Saha, Yinzhan Xu, and Christopher Ye used GPT‑5.5 Pro to develop a proof establishing new limits on how efficiently computers can solve high-dimensional geometry problems, then validated and refined the results themselves.

Researchers using these tools most intensively are also taking on more ambitious work. Those in the top 20% of AI usage within their field are almost twice as likely as their peers to ask AI to take on tasks estimated to require four hours or more: nearly 7% of their requests, compared with 3.5% among other researchers in the same field.

Our strategy is not to decide which scientific problems deserve attention or try to solve them all ourselves. It is to put capable tools in the hands of the research community and let researchers pursue the questions they know best.

Il-parteċipanti se jirċievu aċċess bla ħlas għall-aktar mudelli avvanzati tagħna f’ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work, u Codex, inkluża l-familja ta’ mudelli GPT‑5.6⁠ mat-tnedija. Se jkollhom ukoll riċerka profonda estiża, limiti ta’ użu ogħla, u twieqi tal-kuntest akbar. Flimkien, dawn il-kapaċitajiet jappoġġjaw ir-raġunament xjentifiku, l-eżekuzzjoni aġentika, u l-flussi tax-xogħol tar-riċerka f’diversi dixxiplini.

GPT‑5.6 Terra jibbilanċja l-kapaċità u l-effiċjenza għar-riċerka ta’ kuljum, GPT‑5.6 Luna jipprovdi tweġibiet aktar veloċi għal kompiti eħfef, u GPT‑5.6 Sol jindirizza l-aktar problemi xjentifiċi u matematiċi diffiċli. Fuq FrontierMath Tier 4, li jkejjel ir-raġunament matematiku fil-livell tar-riċerka, GPT‑5.6 Sol jikseb punteġġ ta’ 83%, meta mqabbel ma’ 72.5% għal GPT‑5.5. Fuq GeneBench Pro, li jevalwa l-analiżi ta’ data bijoloġika kumplessa u r-raġunament xjentifiku, GPT‑5.6 Sol Pro jsolvi 31.5% tal-kompiti.

Ir-riċerkaturi jistgħu jużaw aktar minn 75 ħila fix-xjenzi tal-ħajja⁠(jinfetaħ f’tieqa ġdida) li jkopru l-ġenetika, il-ġenomika, is-sekwenzjar, l-analiżi ta’ ċellola waħda, l-immudellar tal-proteini, u l-iskoperta ta’ mediċini. Il-konnetturi jappoġġjaw ir-riċerka f’diversi dixxiplini, billi jipprovdu aċċess għall-letteratura xjentifika, bażijiet pubbliċi ta’ dejta ġenomika u klinika, immaġini satellitari, kotba ta’ noti komputazzjonali, pjattaformi tad-dejta, u maniġers tar-referenzi.

Codex jista’ jgħin fil-kitba u fit-tħaddim tal-kodiċi, fl-analiżi ta’ settijiet ta’ data, u fil-bini ta’ flussi tax-xogħol riproduċibbli. ChatGPT Work jista’ jappoġġa proġetti aktar fit-tul, bħas-sejba ta’ opportunitajiet ta’ finanzjament, it-tħejjija ta’ applikazzjonijiet għal għotjiet, ir-reviżjoni tal-letteratura, l-abbozzar ta’ manuskritti, u l-ħolqien ta’ materjali biex jiġu kkomunikati r-riżultati.

Ir-riċerkaturi se jibdew minn pożizzjonijiet differenti fir-rigward tal-IA. Xi wħud jistgħu jkunu qed jużaw dawn l-għodod għall-ewwel darba; oħrajn jistgħu jkunu qed jiżviluppaw applikazzjonijiet avvanzati fl-oqsma tagħhom.

Il-programm se joffri taħriġ imfassal għal livelli differenti ta’ esperjenza, minn kif tibda u ttejjeb il-flussi tax-xogħol sa applikazzjonijiet avvanzati fir-riċerka. Il-parteċipanti se jkollhom aċċess għal speċjalisti familjari mal-flussi tax-xogħol tar-riċerka, inkluż għajnuna fl-integrazzjoni ta’ dawn l-għodod fix-xogħol tagħhom.

Hekk kif naraw x’jiskopru r-riċerkaturi, qed nippjanaw li noħolqu aktar opportunitajiet biex ir-riċerkaturi jaqsmu approċċi prattiċi, jitgħallmu minn xulxin, u jenfasizzaw l-użi f’diversi dixxiplini. Ir-rispons tagħhom se jgħinna nifhmu fejn il-mudelli tagħna huma utli, fejn jonqsu, u kif nagħmluhom aktar ta’ valur għall-komunità tar-riċerka.

Il-programm inizjali huwa miftuħ għal riċerkaturi eliġibbli f’istituzzjonijiet akkademiċi magħżula. L-istituzzjonijiet eliġibbli⁠(jinfetaħ f’tieqa ġdida) iridu jkunu kulleġġi jew universitajiet rikonoxxuti, li jagħtu lawrji, b’livell għoli ta’ attività ta’ riċerka.

L-applikanti għandhom jivverifikaw l-affiljazzjoni istituzzjonali tagħhom u jipprovdu informazzjoni dwar ir-riċerka attiva tagħhom u l-użu xjentifiku maħsub. Riċerkaturi approvati jistgħu jistiednu sa erba’ kollaboraturi mill-istituzzjoni tagħhom. Kull kollaboratur irid ukoll jivverifika l-affiljazzjoni tiegħu u jinkludi ruħu fin-numru totali ta’ kontijiet tal-programm.

L-applikazzjonijiet huma miftuħa llum. Tista’ tirrevedi l-kriterji ta’ eliġibbiltà u tapplika hawn⁠(jinfetaħ f’tieqa ġdida).