OpenAI Introduces Its Flagship Model 'GPT-5', Making It the New Default in ChatGPT

OpenAI unveiled its latest model, GPT-5 yesterday, making it available to all ChatGPT users, including those on the free tier, with usage limits varying by subscription level. It is also integrated into Microsoft 365 Copilot and available to developers through the OpenAI API. The company made GPT‑5 the new default in ChatGPT, replacing GPT‑4o, OpenAI o3, OpenAI o4-mini, GPT‑4.1, and GPT‑4.5 for signed-in users. GPT‑5 started to roll out today to all Plus, Pro, Team, and Free users, with access for Enterprise and Edu coming in one week. Pro, Plus, and Team users could also start coding with GPT‑5 in the Codex CLI⁠ by signing in with ChatGPT. Pro subscribers got unlimited access to GPT‑5, and access to GPT‑5 Pro, for complex tasks and a replacement of OpenAI o3‑pro. Plus users have significantly higher usage than free users. "For ChatGPT free-tier users, full reasoning capabilities may take a few days to fully roll out. Once free users reach their GPT‑5 usage limits, they will transition to GPT‑5 mini, a smaller, faster, and highly capable model," said OpenAI. During a livestream presentation [watch in the video below], the company's CEO, Sam Altman, described the model as "having a team of experts on call for whatever you want to know." He defined it as "our smartest, fastest, most useful model yet, with built-in thinking that puts expert-level intelligence in everyone's hands." GPT‑5 provides more useful responses across math, science, finance, and law. It includes 128,000 max output tokens. The price per 1 million tokens for the API is $1.25. The tools supported by this model when using the Responses API are Web search, File search, Image generation, Code interpreter, and MCP. OpenAI's executives who participated in the virtual presentation highlighted the coding capabilities of GPT-5, tackling "complex tasks end-to-end and delivering more readily usable code, better design, and is more effective at debugging." GPT‑5 is OpenAI's most advanced model for coding and agentic tasks. It produces high-quality code, generates front-end UI with minimal prompting, and shows improvements to personality, steerability, and executing long chains of tool calls." GPT‑5 also showed ‘minimal’ reasoning and a ‘verbosity’ parameter in the API.   • Pricing and Characteristics • Release Notes • Research Paper GPT-5 has 4 new chat personalities: Cynic, Robot, Listener, Nerd. Find them in Customize ChatGPT in settings. Research preview. Text-only. Opt-in. Change anytime. Written by Robot in GPT-5. pic.twitter.com/XxyWYNYxHt — OpenAI (@OpenAI) August 7, 2025

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Brown University Will Spend $50M on State Programs to See Its Federal Funding Restored

Brown became the third Ivy League university in a month to reach an agreement with the Trump administration to see research funding restored. In April, the Trump administration blocked $510 million in federally sponsored medical and health sciences research funding from flowing to the school. In its 2024 fiscal year, Brown received about $184 million through federal grants and contracts. The new deal, announced yesterday, requires Brown University to spend $50 million in Rhode Island's workforce development programs over a decade. It also requires the institution to comply with the White House's vision on transgender athletes, anti-semitism, and merit-based admission policies. Per the agreement, Brown will dictate its curriculum and the content of academic speech. In an open letter on Wednesday, Brown’s President, Christina H. Paxson, said the agreement "preserves the integrity of Brown’s academic foundation, and it enables us as a community to move forward after a period of considerable uncertainty." However, the Trump administration depicted the deal as an ideological victory. The education secretary, Linda McMahon, said the deal would be part of a “lasting legacy of the Trump administration, one that will benefit students and American society for generations to come.” “The Trump administration is successfully reversing the decades-long woke-capture of our nation’s higher education institutions,” Ms. McMahon stated. Observers, including the student community and media outlets like The New York Times, saw the deal as capitulation to the Trump administration. This month, the U.S. government has also reached agreements with the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. White House officials are still negotiating with Harvard University and representatives of other schools. On the other hand, the Trump Administration accused Duke University of "systemic racial discrimination" in its health care system and froze $108 million in federal funds. Amid this budget crunch, the institution is weighing layoffs alongside about $350 million in cuts, amounting to roughly 10 percent of its budget.

Learners Use AI to Redesigning Instructional Experiences in Real-Time

Learners are increasingly becoming instructional designers, identifying gaps in the learning experience and utilizing AI to address these gaps in pedagogical practices. These instructional design gaps can be inadequate or inaccessible content, poor practice opportunities, deficient scaffolding, and missing emotional support, among others. For example, one student said, "I use ChatGPT as a study guide to explain stuff that the course glosses over, which I then add to my notes. This helps me reinforce what I'm learning, and it's been hella useful so far." Additionally, learners asking AI to "act as my professor and grade this draft" or "create a practice quiz, asking me each question one by one" reveal that instructional assessment and practice systems are failing to support learning. Therefore, experts suggest that instructional designers should closely study how learners interact with AI and adapt their role accordingly, evolving from content creators to learning ecosystem architects. OpenAI's "Top 20 Chats for Finals" data reveal how learners worldwide actually engage with learning content. In a May 2025 post, OpenAI disclosed how many learners are using AI to enhance their learning process. These are some prompts: "I want to learn by teaching. Ask me questions about [topic] so I can practice explaining the core concepts to you." "Identify and share the most important 20% of learnings from this topic that will help me understand 80% of it." "Create a practice quiz for me based on the material. Ask me each question one by one." "I'm not feeling it today. Help me understand this lecture, knowing that's how I feel." "Motivate me." "Can you take the following slides and help me learn the content in a faster and more interesting way?" "Decode this dense passage into language I can understand." "Create a game to help me [learning goals] "Give me a step-by-step guide to help me finish [project]. Make the steps as small and achievable as possible." "Look for any rules and requirements in this assignment and make a checklist that's easy to understand." "Act as my public speaking coach and give me feedback to help me improve." "I want to pressure test my thesis before I keep writing. Suggest the existing opposing viewpoints and any flaws in my logic." I want to consider multiple perspectives. Find three experts with different points of view and compare their opinions. Dr. Philippa Hadman, an expert and researcher on education, wrote, "The most successful instructional designers of 2025 and beyond won't be those who resist AI or those who blindly embrace it. The winners will be those who study what learner AI behaviour teaches us about effective learning design and who use those insights to create more responsive, human-centered learning ecosystems." "The future of instructional design is about learning from what learners create when they have access to responsive, personalized, and emotionally intelligent learning support."

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MIT Launches 'Learn', an AI-Enabled Non-Degree Platform with Free Courses and Resources

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology introduced this month MIT Learn, an AI-based platform featuring a personalized website with over 12,700 non-degree learning resources, most of which are available for free. "MIT Learn marks the beginning of an ambitious project that aims to redefine how MIT distributes knowledge and connects with learners worldwide," explained the institution. Created by MIT Open Learning, this lifelong learning platform features introductory and advanced courses, upskilling and reskilling programs, and other resources, including videos, podcasts, "all for every stage of your learning journey," according to the institution. Open Learning’s product offerings comprise OpenCourseWare, MITx, and MicroMasters programs. The AI-enabled assistant, called “AskTim”, helps learners find courses and resources aligned with their personal and professional goals. It also provides a summary of a course’s structure, topics, and expectations, enabling more informed decisions before enrollment. This AI agent can answer users' questions about lectures, create flashcards of key concepts, and provide instant summaries. The tutor guides the learner through problem sets, leading them toward the next step without revealing the answers. The platform features sophisticated search, browsing, and discovery capabilities, complemented by the “Ask Tim” bot. However, the AI assistant has been introduced in a limited set of courses and modules as the MIT Open Learning team wants to gather insights and improve the learning experience before expanding more broadly. For example, in signature courses such as Molecular Biology: DNA Replication and Repair, Genetics: The Fundamentals, and Cell Biology: Transport and Signaling, learners can interact with an AI assistant by asking questions about a lecture, requesting flashcards of key concepts, and obtaining instant summaries. Dimitris Bertsimas, Vice Provost for Open Learning, explained, “MIT Learn elevates learning with personalized recommendations powered by AI, guiding each learner toward deeper understanding. It is a stepping stone toward a broader vision of making these opportunities even more accessible to global learners through one unified learning platform.” "MIT Learn is a whole new front door to the Institute," added Christopher Capozzola, Senior Associate Dean for Open Learning. "It transforms how people engage with what we offer digitally." Former Provost Cynthia Barnhart, who, under her direction, developed MIT Learn in cooperation with Sloan Executive Education and Professional Education, stated that this project is "the latest step in a long tradition of the Institute providing innovative ways for learners to access knowledge.” "This AI-enabled platform delivers on the Institute’s commitment to help people launch into learning journeys that can unlock life-changing opportunities." MIT became the first higher education institution to provide educational resources free of charge to anyone in the world in 2001. Today, 24 years later, the institution advances with MIT Learn, its "mission to disseminate knowledge globally."

Columbia University's Agreement with The White House Sets a Precedent For Other Colleges

The Trump administration's deal with Columbia University in New York City has put leaders at Ivy League universities and other college campuses nationwide in a tough spot. Institutions are facing the possibility of seeing research funding paused. President Donald Trump has made it clear he won't tolerate a liberal imposition at America's most prestigious colleges and intends to reshape them accordingly. On July 23, Columbia University agreed to pay fines of over $220 million and signed on to a list of other concessions related to admissions, academics, and hiring practices. The White House, which has halted billions in research grants to several schools, said it envisions the Columbia deal as the first of many such agreements. Education Secretary Linda McMahon called it a blueprint for other institutions to follow. "Columbia’s reforms are a roadmap for elite universities that wish to regain the confidence of the American public," Linda McMahon said in a statement. In addition to Columbia University, other Ivy League schools are striking deals with the Trump administration. On July 1, the University of Pennsylvania entered into an agreement ending a civil rights investigation brought by the U.S. Department of Education. In February, the agency accused Penn of violating Title IX, the primary sex discrimination law governing schools, when it allowed Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer, to compete in 2022. As part of the deal, the White House said it would restore Penn's research funding. In return, the university apologized to cisgender athletes who swam against Thomas. The university also agreed to ban transgender women from sports. This month, President Trump hinted he believes Harvard University may still be open to coming to a deal. At Cornell, the government paused more than $1 billion. At Brown, it froze $510 million, and at Princeton, it stopped more than $210 million. Of the eight Ivy League schools, only two – Dartmouth College and Yale University – have avoided targeted federal funding freezes.

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OpenAI Introduces Its Flagship Model 'GPT-5', Making It the New Default in ChatGPT

Gemini Introduces Its Socratic-Style AI Assistant for Learners

Anthropic Launches Claude for Education In AWS Marketplace

Canvas LMS Adds to Its Platform an Agentic Solution, 'IgniteAI'

Brown University Will Spend $50M on State Programs to See Its Federal Funding Restored

Learners Use AI to Redesigning Instructional Experiences in Real-Time

Satya Nadella Explains the 9,000-Employee Layoff While Microsoft Thrives

Figma Makes Its AI Coding Tool 'Make' Available to All Users

ChatGPT Introduced "Study Mode", a New Way to Learn that Offers Step-By-Step Guidance

MIT Launches 'Learn', an AI-Enabled Non-Degree Platform with Free Courses and Resources

Columbia University's Agreement with The White House Sets a Precedent For Other Colleges

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