IRC running pilot project on OpenAI-powered education chatbot 'aprendIA' in Bangladesh, other countries

OpenAI will offer discounts on corporate ChatGPT subscriptions to nonprofit organizations, the Microsoft-backed firm said on Thursday, as it seeks to grow sales of its artificial intelligence product to enterprises.

Under the program, large nonprofits will be able to get 50 per cent off the enterprise-grade version of ChatGPT. Smaller nonprofits using ChatGPT Team will pay $20 per month per user, instead of $25 or $30.

When OpenAI released the consumer-focused ChatGPT in November 2022, it set off frenzied use of generative AI in daily tasks from writing to coding and became the fastest application to acquire 100 million users.

Recently, the company has courted large organizations to buy its ChatGPT enterprise product, which it plans to make a bigger part of its revenue stream.

The company also announced on Thursday a partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

OpenAI has granted $250,000 to the IRC, a New York-based nonprofit that helps those affected by humanitarian crises, such as the war in Ukraine.

The funds will go towards developing an education chatbot built on OpenAI technology to assist educators in crisis zones.

Called aprendIA, it is currently being piloted in places such as Bangladesh and Nigeria, the IRC said.

"A total of 224 million school-aged and pre-school aged children are affected by crises globally...in conflict and crisis settings, teachers lack resources to support children who face unique challenges," the IRC said in a statement.

IRC said educators will be able to use aprendIA to create interactive and personalized teaching content adaptable to different humanitarian contexts.

To expand its global reach, IRC plans to make chatbots available on low-tech devices and within existing chat products like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger in multiple languages.