OpenAI Hires Former Coursera Executive to Expand AI Use in Schools

OpenAI has hired former Coursera Inc. executive Leah Belsky to be its first general manager of education, leading the artificial intelligence startup’s efforts to bring its products to more schools and classrooms.

Belsky, previously the chief revenue officer at the online learning platform, will be tasked with boosting OpenAI’s engagement with instructors and students across K-12, higher education and continuing education, the company said Wednesday. Belsky will also work internally with the startup’s product, policy, marketing and other teams on partnerships and sharing feedback from the academic world.

After OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022, the chatbot quickly took off with students — so much so that the product saw a seasonal spike in usage at the beginning of the school year last fall. Some teachers tried to crack down on AI’s use in classrooms over concerns that students are using it to cheat on assignments. But other educators have accepted AI is here to stay and begun incorporating the technology into their lesson plans and research.

OpenAI has been working to develop partnerships with academia alongside a broader revenue push. In May, the startup released a version of its chatbot called ChatGPT Edu, with more custom controls and special pricing for educational institutions. The University of Oxford, Arizona State University and Columbia University are among the schools currently subscribing to the product.