OpenAI expands initiatives to support journalism from classrooms to newsrooms

OpenAI is launching a multi-faceted initiative to support the journalism ecosystem by providing tools, training, and partnerships for students, educators, journalists, and news organizations. Beginning in the 2026-2027 academic year, OpenAI is collaborating with the Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures at CUNY’s Newmark J-School and the Knight Lab at Northwestern University’s Medill School. As part of this collaboration, OpenAI will provide more than 400 ChatGPT Edu subscriptions to interested graduate students and faculty at both schools, aiming to help students understand how to use AI thoughtfully, ethically, and responsibly. Jeremy Gilbert of Medill noted that the support ensures students can use the latest AI tools without cost acting as a barrier. Tom Rubin, Chief of Intellectual Property and Content at OpenAI, stated that the partnership builds on the company's longstanding commitment to help aspiring and established journalists utilize AI while maintaining human expertise. This new academic effort builds on OpenAI's previous and ongoing partnerships across the journalism industry. These include a renewed partnership with the American Journalism Project to offer ChatGPT enterprise and API credits to its portfolio of over 50 news organizations, continued support for the Lenfest Institute for Journalism’s AI Collaborative and Fellowship program, ongoing work with WAN-IFRA's Newsroom AI Catalyst accelerator, and support for INMA. Additionally, OpenAI provided a grant in 2023 to help launch the Ethics and Journalism Initiative at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and has hosted training sessions at several journalism association conferences this year.