Sydney universities face student backlash over ChatGPT partnerships

Sydney’s two most prestigious universities have within days of each other signed agreements with Open AI to roll out ChatGPT Edu, laying the groundwork for further campus tensions and prompting questions about the value of degrees as a broader grassroots backlash to AI technology grows.

Last week, the University of NSW announced it had signed a “strategic partnership” to bring the purpose-built AI system to its campus after a trial involving 500 students in 2024.

“The collaboration, one of the largest AI education deployments in the Asia-Pacific region, aims to help ensure graduates are equipped to use AI critically, ethically and effectively,” UNSW said in a statement last week.

In response to questions from this masthead, UNSW said that ChatGPT was an “optional resource”.

“The strategic partnership … supports training and the responsible exploration of AI in teaching, research and professional services.”

Five days later, its traditional rival – the University of Sydney – made an announcement of its own.

“This university-wide investment ensures every student and staff member has free and equitable access to advanced AI tools,” it said.

“Tomorrow’s leaders will also need to understand AI’s ethical, social and environmental impacts, and possess the ability to work with this technology critically and responsibly. We will support you for that future by providing equitable access to advanced AI tools.”

The University of Sydney’s vice president of operations, Nicole Gower, said that it would retain its “human-centred approach to AI” and it was also rolling out an AI research fund to address the technology’s environmental cost.

ChatGPT Edu is a specialised version of the artificial intelligence platform that facilitates AI usage across students, faculty, researchers, and campus operations, according to parent company OpenAI’s website. Prestigious universities across the globe including Oxford in the UK and Columbia University in the United States also use ChatGPT Edu.

A fortnight ago, union members at the University of Sydney went on strike, in part due to concerns about the university’s “extraordinarily cavalier” approach to AI.

“At the very same time NTEU members were on strike for enforceable consultation and protections around AI, it’s now clear [Sydney] management were off signing a multi-year deal with OpenAI,” said the National Tertiary Education Union’s Dr Vince Caughley.

“They’ve made our case for us: why staff need enforceable rights, why they need to organise and why we need comprehensive reform of university governance.”

The reception to the ChatGPT Edu rollout has not been positive. Comments on a social media post about Sydney’s announcement included, “Despicable garbage” and “I love it when my uni engages in fascism-maxxing”. Another said: “Now I’m questioning my choices to study there.”

A protest is planned for the university on Wednesday.

The dual announcements came off the back of last week’s warning that AI could wipe out humanity.

Yet despite initial hesitation, Australia’s universities have accelerated their adaption of AI across research, administration, teaching and learning. Last month, this masthead revealed that it is being used in lectures, as a virtual assistant for conversational skills and as a “study buddy”.

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