BREAKING
MV Electrosystems debuts with nearly 47% premiumMan fakes own kidnapping to escape debt collectorsGold futures rise on spot demandBJP leader apologises for anti-women slogansBuying in blue chips, cooling oil triggers mixed action on D-StTheft at Ram Temple has hurt devotees: RitambharaMarket indecisive between bulls and bearsGen Z more honest than us, says RSS chiefGen Z more honest than previous generations, says RSS chief Mohan BhagwatBasavaraj Horatti to resign as Legislative Council Chairman on August 14
Technology

OpenAI Gives 100,000 Researchers Free Access to Its Most Advanced ChatGPT

hellohimachalse@gmail.com 31 Jul 2026 31 Jul 2026

OpenAI has initiated a new program called “ChatGPT for Academic Researchers,” which will grant 100,000 researchers from selected universities and institutions free access to its cutting-edge AI models. The concept is simple: rather than OpenAI deciding which scientific problems are relevant, it aims to have researchers use these tools to explore questions they already understand deeply.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, wrote on X: “I’m very excited about this. We are very close to having models that will significantly accelerate scientific discovery; the best way to achieve this is by empowering scientists, rather than trying to solve everything ourselves. We all deserve to benefit from it.”

How it actually works

The rollout will take place in stages. OpenAI will begin this summer with 10,000 researchers—already involving institutions such as the Institute for Advanced Study and the École Normale Supérieure—before expanding the program to reach 100,000 researchers by 2027. Each participant will gain access to OpenAI’s cutting-edge models, including GPT-5.6 Sol Pro, and will be able to add up to four collaborators from their own institution.

Researchers will not be limited to simply typing questions into a chatbot. They will have access to over 75 specialised life-science capabilities—covering genetics, genomics, protein modelling, and drug discovery—as well as tools that connect to scientific literature, genomic databases, satellite imagery, and computational notebooks.

Codex, OpenAI’s programming-focused model, is also part of the package, helping researchers write code, debug it, and analyse datasets. In addition, support is provided for less glamorous academic tasks, such as drafting grant proposals, conducting literature reviews, and preparing manuscripts.

To illustrate the scale of this initiative with figures, OpenAI notes that the GPT-5.6 Sol model achieves a score of 83% on FrontierMath Tier 4—a benchmark for researcher-level mathematical reasoning—compared to the 72.5% achieved by the previous model. On GeneBench Pro, a test evaluating the analysis of complex biological data, the model successfully completes just over 31 percent of the tasks. OpenAI also offers training sessions and hands-on assistance to ensure that researchers who have never used AI tools are not forced to navigate the process on their own without guidance.

Applications are now open for degree-granting academic institutions with a strong research track record; this initiative is part of a broader $250 million commitment by OpenAI to support scientific research through 2027, joining projects such as the NextGenAI initiative and the collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Genesis mission.

Related News