OpenAI said on the 30th that it launched a global program, "ChatGPT for Academic Researchers," to provide advanced AI models and research tools free of charge to academic researchers in science, mathematics, and engineering, and is accepting applications.
The program was created to prevent the benefits of advanced AI from concentrating in a few corporations or well-resourced labs and to help researchers in each field use powerful tools to accelerate scientific discovery.
In the Asia-Pacific region, a total of 70 universities and institutions were included on the target list. Among them, institutions in Korea totaled 17, the largest share by country. OpenAI will start the program this summer for 10,000 researchers and plans to expand support to up to 100,000 by 2027. Those selected as participants receive one year of free access.
Participants can use advanced models, including the GPT-5.6 family, in ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work, and Codex, and "GPT-5.6 Sol Pro" for solving high-difficulty science and math problems is also provided. In addition, expanded Deep Research access, higher usage limits, and an extended context window are granted, enabling data analysis and agent-based tasks.
In the life sciences, more than 75 dedicated skills that support genetics, protein modeling, and new drug development are available, along with connectors that link scientific literature, databases, and computing notebooks. Codex supports code writing and data analysis, while ChatGPT Work helps manage long-term projects such as drafting grant applications and paper outlines.
The program's dedicated workspace applies business-grade security features, and data entered by researchers is not used to train OpenAI's models.
However, even if someone belongs to a target institution, access is not granted automatically. Eligible researchers must apply individually and submit affiliation verification along with details of ongoing research and plans for AI use.