As the Year of AI Exploration enters its second semester, students still do not have access to the enterprise-level version of ChatGPT Edu and Google Gemini, which the College activated for faculty and staff last Fall. According to the College’s public AI website, students are expected to gain access sometime this semester. However, student access has yet to be enabled as the College determines how best to roll out these services.
According to Chris Drennen, director of academic technology and instructional support in the Center for Information Technology and co-chair of the Education Technology Committee, the College secured a one-year institutional license for ChatGPT Edu and activated Gemini through its existing Google Workspace agreement as part of the Year of AI Exploration. The tools were activated for faculty and staff Sept. 4.
According to the College’s public AI website, students are expected to gain access sometime in this semester. However, Drennen clarified that access has not yet been expanded beyond faculty and staff.
“Student access has not yet been enabled, and we are still determining the appropriate structure and timing,” Drennen wrote in an email to the Review.
The phased rollout is intentional. Rather than opening the tools campus-wide, the College began by equipping faculty and staff with institutionally-vetted versions in order to better understand the risks and opportunities of generative AI. The Year of AI Exploration includes workshops, discussions, surveys, and cross-campus dialogue, with additional information available on Oberlin’s public AI website and internal AI Resource Hub.
Security and data protection were central considerations in adopting enterprise versions. Drennen noted that, before the College acquired these licenses, approximately 1,600 users were already accessing public AI platforms through their Oberlin email accounts. Enterprise licenses provide contractual assurances that institutional data and user content are not used to train public models, offering stronger safeguards than free public versions.
Professor of Music Theory and Executive Director of Oberlin Conservatory Global Joseph Lubben, co-chair of the Year of AI Exploration, emphasized that the tools are primarily intended to support exploration and learning.
“The tools made available to faculty and staff last semester are in place in order to facilitate exploration and learning about AI,” Lubben wrote in an email sent to the Review.
Lubben added that it is too early to draw firm conclusions about long-term adoption. No decision has been made about which tools, if any, will be adopted beyond this year.
From his perspective, faculty engagement has varied.
“Some faculty have engaged extensively, most have not,” Lubben wrote.
So far, many uses have centered on research and artistic engagement, including in Economics, Dance, and Music. Some faculty have also used AI tools in class specifically to expose their limitations and contrast them with more traditional approaches to information literacy. Librarians, Lubben noted, have been especially engaged in examining how AI intersects with information literacy.
Faculty concerns raised during the Year of AI Exploration mirror broader national debates about generative AI, including cognitive offloading, environmental costs, bias, hallucinations, mental health, and academic integrity. Lubben said these issues have been discussed in lectures and workshops across campus. He also highlighted growing ethical concerns about AI-generated images of real people, particularly when created without consent.
Academic integrity remains a central issue in the Year of AI Exploration. Drennen wrote student-facing guidance is still being developed in collaboration with student leadership, including the Student Honor Committee and Student Senate, as well as faculty governance bodies. The College plans to require AI literacy training before expanding student access.
Questions about student access, guidance, and classroom integration are still being considered by the AI Advisory Group and in collaboration with campus partners. As the Year of AI Exploration progresses, how these tools will ultimately fit into Oberlin’s academic environment has yet to be fully determined.
While administrators describe a structured and transparent process, at least some students say the information has not reached them. College third-year Tripp Hawkins said the possibility of institutionally-provided AI tools raised questions for her.
“I do not feel the College has clearly communicated about the access to these tools or how they are supposed to fit into our courses in terms of being used as a tool,” Hawkins wrote.
Student access is expected this semester, according to the College’s website, though the College has not given any further indication on exactly when this will occur.
