Oxford University has announced a partnership with OpenAI.

The University of Oxford and OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, the most well-known artificial intelligence platform in the world, have announced a new five-year collaboration.

According to the university, the partnership would provide funds and “cutting-edge” artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to staff and students to “enhance teaching, learning, and research.”

As part of the new plan, a portion of the Bodleian Library’s public collection will also be digitalized.

“Continued collaboration” with the academic community is “essential to build AI that benefits everyone,” according to Brad Lightcap, the chief operating officer of OpenAI.

Oxford researchers will have access to OpenAI’s most recent models as part of the program, including a ChatGPT variant created especially for educational settings.

Projects involving collaboration with the Silicon Valley-based corporation in California will also be eligible for research grant money.

According to the institution, the collaboration would “present opportunities to accelerate” its research in fields including climate change and health.

“Artificial intelligence is speeding up scientific discovery and allowing researchers to work with increasingly complex data sets,” stated Prof. Patrick Grant, pro vice chancellor for research at Oxford.

“The university aims to be at the forefront of AI research and the application of AI for all researchers by producing ground-breaking studies to help both scholars and society not only adapt to these technologies but also harness them wisely to their full potential,” he stated.

The project will also provide previously unavailable Bodleian Library collections online for people all over the world.

“The Bodleian’s mission is to acquire, preserve, and make available knowledge for the benefit of our students, researchers, and the wider public,” stated librarian Richard Ovenden.

“Over the centuries we have constantly sought new ways to take this mission forward and have in more recent years been an innovator in the use of technology,” he said.

The University of Oxford’s involvement in NextGenAI, an OpenAI-sponsored initiative comprising leading US and UK universities, is what led to the new collaboration.

“The NextGenAI initiative will accelerate research progress and catalyse a new generation of institutions equipped to harness the transformative power of AI,” stated Lightcap.