OpenAI Commits $50M to AI Research and Education Through NextGenAI Initiative 

March 4, 2025 -- OpenAI today announced the launch of NextGenAI, a first-of-its-kind consortium, with 15 leading research institutions dedicated to using AI to accelerate research breakthroughs and transform education.

AI has the power to drive progress in research and education—but only when people have the right tools to harness it. That’s why OpenAI is committing $50M in research grants, compute funding, and API access to support students, educators, and researchers advancing the frontiers of knowledge.

Uniting institutions across the U.S. and abroad, NextGenAI aims to catalyze progress at a rate faster than any one institution would alone. This initiative is built not only to fuel the next generation of discoveries, but also to prepare the next generation to shape AI’s future.

The Next Generation of AI Leaders

NextGenAI’s founding partners are Caltech, the California State University system, Duke University, the University of Georgia, Harvard University, Howard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, the University of Mississippi, Ohio State University, the University of Oxford, Sciences Po, Texas A&M University, as well as Boston Children’s Hospital, the Boston Public Library, and OpenAI.

Each institution is using AI to tackle high-impact challenges, from revolutionizing healthcare to reimagining education. Here are just a few examples of their groundbreaking work:

Accelerating the Next Generation of Research Breakthroughs

• Ohio State University is leveraging AI to accelerate the fields of digital health, advanced therapeutics, manufacturing, energy, mobility, and agriculture, while educators are using AI to create advanced learning models.
• Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital researchers are using OpenAI tools and NextGenAI funding to reduce the time it takes patients to find the right diagnosis, especially for rare orphan diseases, and improve AI alignment with human values in medical decision-making.
• Duke University scientists are using AI to pioneer metascience research, identifying the fields of science where AI can have the greatest benefit.

“Ohio State is at the forefront of a multidisciplinary approach to the benefits of AI, significantly impacting both research and education,” said Peter J. Mohler, Executive Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Knowledge at Ohio State. “We are excited to join Open AI and this elite research partnership, which will enable us to drive even more groundbreaking discoveries and advancements in medicine, manufacturing, computing, and beyond.”

Empowering the next generation to be AI-fluent

• Texas A&M is using NextGenAI resources to fuel their Generative AI Literacy Initiative, providing hands-on training to enhance the responsible use of AI in academic settings.
• MIT students and faculty will be able to use OpenAI’s API and compute funding to train and fine-tune their own AI models and develop new applications.
• Howard will use AI to develop curricula, experiment with new teaching methods, improve university operations, and give students hands-on AI experience to prepare them as future leaders.

“We look forward to collaborating with OpenAI, whose support will enable us to empower our students, researchers, and the broader academic community with cutting-edge knowledge and skills in the rapidly evolving field of generative artificial intelligence,” commented Dr. Robert H. Bishop, Vice Chancellor and Dean of the College of Engineering, Texas A&M University.

Imagining the future of AI-powered Universities and Libraries

• University of Oxford is leveraging AI for a broad research agenda, education, and university operations—its renowned Bodleian Library is digitizing rare texts and using OpenAI’s API to transcribe them, making centuries-old knowledge newly searchable by scholars worldwide.
• University of Mississippi is exploring new ways to integrate AI into their core mission of education, research, and service, and to advance AI-driven solutions that benefit their students, faculty, and the broader community.
• Boston Public Library, America's first large free municipal public library, is digitizing public domain materials and using AI to make their information more accessible to patrons from all walks of life.

“This new collaboration marks an exciting step forward, offering fresh opportunities to enrich our research, expand our AI capabilities, and foster skill development,” said Anne Trefethen, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Digital, University of Oxford. “By working together, we can learn from one another, advancing the frontiers of artificial intelligence, understanding its impact on education and unlocking its vast potential for the benefit of our university community and beyond.”

Strengthening the Connection Between Academia & Industry

NextGenAI reinforces the vital partnership between academia and industry, ensuring that AI’s benefits extend to laboratories, libraries, hospitals, and classrooms worldwide.

“The field of AI wouldn’t be where it is today without decades of work in the academic community. Continued collaboration is essential to build AI that benefits everyone,” said Brad Lightcap, Chief Operating Officer, OpenAI. “NextGenAI will accelerate research progress and catalyze a new generation of institutions equipped to harness the transformative power of AI.”

This initiative expands OpenAI’s commitment to education, following the launch of ChatGPT Edu in May 2024, which enabled university-wide access to ChatGPT. NextGenAI complements this effort by providing institutions OpenAI’s APIs and funding to drive critical innovation.

NextGenAI is designed to support the scientist searching for a cure, the scholar uncovering new insights, and the student mastering AI for the world ahead.

As we learn from this initiative, we’ll explore opportunities to expand its reach and impact. We look forward to sharing updates as our partners drive progress—one breakthrough at a time.

Learning from this initiative, the NextGenAI consortium will explore opportunities to expand its reach and impact. The NextGenAI partners look forward to sharing updates—one breakthrough at a time.

Source: OpenAI