USC signs $1.5M contract with OpenAI to train students, faculty on responsible use

by Jessica Holdman
Reprinted from the South Carolina Daily Gazette

COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s largest university system has signed a $1.5 million agreement with OpenAI to offer free AI tools to all students and faculty beginning this fall.

Students on USC campus — The Horseshoe on the campus of USC

USC’s Columbia campus will become the first in the state to offer access to ChatGPT Enterprise, following approval of a software licensing agreement by the college’s governing board Friday. The university system’s other campuses throughout the state also will have the option to join.

The school plans to use the technology to train students on ethical and appropriate use of AI, said spokesman Jeff Stensland. USC envisions students will use ChatGPT to create study guides for their classes or to help with time management, a skill Stensland said students often struggle with, by automating any busy work on their to do lists.

The sole-source contract is for one year, starting with the fall semester. Stensland was unsure why the contract didn’t go through the normal procurement process.

“AI is here and people in the private sector are using for whole host of things,” Stensland said. “This will position students to know how to use these tools responsibly.”

Students will be expected to abide by all policies for student conduct and academic integrity in their use of the technology.

USC also expects ChatGPT will be a time saver for faculty in the classroom, automating grading or creating syllabi, or with data analysis in research. By having a licensing agreement for the technology, USC also will benefit from greater cyber security, protecting any data or information they use the tool for.

“The campus-wide adoption of secure enterprise AI technology puts USC on the leading edge of higher education institutions,” said Brice Bible, USC’s vice president for information technology and chief information officer. “This initiative will not only make our students more employable, but it will allow for much greater innovation in the classroom and across research teams in every discipline.”

The school plans to provide more information on the program throughout the summer.
“ChatGPT as a tool is one outcome. The larger goal is to adopt training, build operational efficiencies, advance the institution’s understanding of AI and build guardrails to experiment and protect USC data,” Stensland said in a statement.

USC is not the only university leaning into advancements in AI. OpenAI invested $50 million in a partnership, which it calls the NextGenAI consortium, to help speed up the research process.