Openai and Anthropic are fighting for students with free AI

Two main AI, Openai and Anthropic laboratories, have just announced major initiatives in higher education. This is the only constant expanse that we familiar with: this week, Anthropic abandoned his announcement at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, while Optai followed with almost identical news at 8 am on Thursday.

For Anthropic, this week’s announcement was its first major academic push. He launched Claude for Education, a version focused on the university of his chatbot. The company has also announced partnerships with the Northeastern University, the London School of Economics (LSE) and the Champlain College, as well as the Internet2, which builds university technological infrastructure, and the instructure (canvase manufacturer) to increase “equitable access to the tools that support universities when they integrate AI”.

At the center of the supply of anthropic education is the “learning mode”, a new feature that changes how Claude interacts with students. Instead of simply providing answers, the press release indicates that the learning mode will use Socratic questions to guide students through problems, asking “how will you approach this?” Or “What evidence support your conclusion?” – in order to help students “to develop critical thinking skills” rather than just doing their homework for them.

“As specialists in the social sciences, we are in a unique position to understand and shape how AI can positively transform education and society,” said LSE President and Vice-Chancellor in the press release from Anthropic.

While Anthropic is entering higher education, Openai has been active in this space for almost a year. The startup launched Chatgpt Edu in May 2024 – a version focused on the University of its chatbot accompanied by several university partnerships. Last month, the company formed the NextGenai consortium, engaging $ 50 million to accelerate research on AI in 15 colleges. In February, Openai also joined the California State University to bring Chatgpt Edu with all CSU campuses. Then, this Thursday, Openai announced that Chatgpt Plus (which costs $ 20 per month) will be free for all American students and Canadian college students until May.

The OPENAI initiative underlines that the Chatppt is “here to help you cross the finals”, offering more level advantages such as important file downloads, deep research and advanced vocal features.

“Today’s students are faced with enormous pressure to learn more quickly, tackle more difficult problems and to enter an increasingly shaped workforce. Supporting their literacy in AI means more than to show how these tools work,” said the vice-president of education at Openai Leah Belsky in the company’s press release.

The two laboratories that publish education initiatives simultaneously reveal the great value of students. The race to integrate AI tools into the academic world is a competition to shape the way the next generation works with AI – and above all, to become their default AI tool.