UNSW ramps up AI capabilities with ChatGPT trial

UNSW is exploring how to integrate ChatGPT into its digital ecosystem through a 12-month pilot.

The university has rolled out the large language model’s education tool, ChatGPT Edu, to 500 trial participants, after partnering with OpenAI.

ChatGPT will be used alongside other AI tools, including Microsoft’s Copilot, in a bid to “lift its UNSW-wide AI capability”.

“[The trial] means students and staff can test and learn with all the benefits of the GPT engine, in a controlled environment, allowing us to experiment, learn and determine how best to integrate it into our ecosystem,” a UNSW spokesperson told iTnews.

“The outcome of the pilot will inform our next steps.

"Different LLMs and other AI tools support different use cases across the university.

"Based upon the outcomes of the pilots underway, various models and tools will be selected to meet the outcomes we seek.”

The university hopes ChatGPT will improve “educational experience and digital literacy for staff and students by providing AI tools that enable creativity, efficiency, and collaboration”.

It also expects the tool to “advance” researchers’ work, alongside providing “effective and ethical” applications of generative AI in higher education.

The pilot may also develop students’ AI capabilities that they “will need in the workforce”.

Writing on LinkedIn earlier this week, UNSW CIO Chrissy Burns said the partnership with OpenAI "builds on our existing work to realise the benefits of AI to deliver innovation in research and teaching and give time back to our staff in a safe and reliable way”.

“The arrangement will allow UNSW researchers, educators, students and staff to harness OpenAI’s tools on a secure platform – supporting protection of IP and data while using Open AI to complement and enhance their work,” she wrote.