Princeton Gives Students Free ChatGPT. But Not Everyone Is Happy

Princeton, one of the most prestigious and elite universities in the world, is giving its students and faculty access to paid ChatGPT accounts. But the decision has not exactly received universal applause; the campus is divided.

The move has sparked a debate on campus, with concerns that it could undermine academic integrity and the very purpose of education, while others have welcomed the move as inevitable in the age of AI.

The one-year pilot was announced in an email to faculty and staff last week. Students can request ChatGPT Plus access from January, ahead of the spring semester, while faculty and staff could request access immediately.

Students, however, must first complete an online AI literacy course.

"The decision to provide ChatGPT Plus accounts feels like handing Princeton students an academic shortcut," Krystal Ma, Class of 2030 told university's student-run daily newspaper, The Princetonian, also known as The Prince.

However, Ammar Omar, also from the Class of 2030, is more aligned with the thought that AI is inevitable.

"I think ChatGPT is going to be a part of our future for sure, and chatbots in general. I think it's good that the University is exposing students to it, so that we can learn how to use it well to aid in our learning rather than having it be this banned tool that we're fighting against the University to use," he said.

90% of students surveyed in the Prince's 2030 Frosh Survey had used ChatGPT or another AI model.

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Why Some Professors Are Uncomfortable

Kevin Kruse, Princeton history professor is clearly not a fan of the move.

"In a field like mine, where the entire goal of innovative scholarship is to find new ideas that break with the conventional wisdom, the great averager of ChatGPT is completely counterproductive," he said.

"Most important, it's a threat to the innovative and exceptional teaching that Princeton has long taken pride in," he added.

Kruse also criticised the university's decision as a waste of resources and raised environmental concerns around the energy and water consumption of data centres.

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Access Doesn't Mean Endorsement

The University's contract with OpenAI is intended to provide "enhanced data security and privacy protections" and cost savings for the University, according to a statement from the university spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss.

"We recognise the use of AI as a powerful, modern tool for research and learning. This does not mean that we actively endorse its use for any particular purpose in any circumstance...," he said.

The university also plans to offer faculty additional opportunities to provide feedback before the student rollout in January.
Princeton isn't the only one making AI tools available to its community. Harvard previously made Claude available to affiliates, while Yale offers access to an OpenAI-powered chatbot called Clarity to people with Yale email addresses.

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