Pitt to deploy new AI tool to assist students, faculty

Studying and coursework might look a little more high-tech at the University of Pittsburgh.

Pitt has signed a universitywide agreement with Anthropic and Amazon Web Services for an AI model — Claude for Education — that can pose open-ended questions and offer support for students, preparing them for professional AI tools and meeting other educational and administrative needs.

“The University of Pittsburgh is pioneering how institutions can responsibly integrate AI in higher education, and their approach aligns perfectly with our commitment to develop AI that is helpful, honest and harmless,” said Johanna Bowman, Education Partnerships Lead at Anthropic.

“Working alongside AWS, we’re excited to support the University’s vision through Claude for Education, our AI Fluency curriculum, and ongoing collaboration with their AI Scholar-Teacher Alliance. Through this work, Pitt is defining how AI can best serve higher education.”

A launch date hasn’t been set, but students and faculty will have access to Claude for Education later this school year, said Jared Stonesifer, university spokesman. The model will be rolled out with research groups and faculty first, and later the student body.

Claude for Education will be deployed at all of Pitt’s campuses.

“Students will have access to Claude for Education as a learning companion that encourages critical thinking and helps them work through complex problems — whether brainstorming ideas, working through assignments step-by-step or getting feedback on their writing,” Stonesifer said.

How and when students can use AI in their coursework will be up to instructors, he said.

“The goal is to prepare students for the AI tools they’ll use in their careers,” Stonesifer said.

He said Claude for Education can support faculty’s teaching, research and administrative work, whether that’s developing course materials or streamlining research tasks.

“They’ll have the flexibility to set their own guidelines for how students use AI in their courses, and they’ll have access to training through Anthropic Academy to help them integrate these tools effectively and responsibly into their teaching,” Stonesifer said.

Stonesifer said Pitt has policies in place that protect sensitive data, ensure academic integrity and make sure users are accountable to verify what AI produces.

“We chose Anthropic’s Claude specifically because it’s designed to be helpful, honest and harmless,” Stonesifer said. “That alignment with responsible AI was essential to us.”