Armenia is preparing to distribute approximately 50,000 free ChatGPT Edu and Codex subscriptions across its education, engineering and research communities at the start of the next academic year, as reported by Edtech Innovation Hub, through a partnership between Armenia's Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, OpenAI and Firebird.

An OpenAI delegation visited Armenia from 23 to 26 June to discuss implementation with government officials, universities, schools, researchers and technology organisations. Working meetings at Yerevan State University brought together representatives from seven participating universities alongside technical, administrative and academic staff.

Discussions covered institutional responsibilities, technical configuration, staff training, responsible AI use and feedback collection. Each participating university is expected to establish a dedicated team to support the programme and coordinate platform access across its academic community.

The programme is intended to support teaching, research, educational content development and academic administration. Codex will give eligible users access to AI-assisted coding capabilities alongside the ChatGPT Edu platform.

OpenAI representative Alina Leon said the initiative reflects a broader commitment to systemic change. "We work with governments to support fundamental changes related to the introduction of AI in education systems," she said. "We want to use this opportunity to present Armenia to the world and show what can be done in education through the use of AI."

Leon noted that OpenAI has previously worked on academic AI implementation with education systems in Estonia, Kazakhstan, Slovakia and Greece.

The rollout will use a train-the-trainer model, creating networks of AI champions across universities and schools who will test tools, develop locally relevant use cases and support colleague training, extending knowledge beyond centralised workshops.

The seven participating universities have not been named, and the partners have not disclosed how the 50,000 subscriptions will be allocated among students, faculty, researchers and engineers, how long free access will last or whether institutions will face charges once the initial programme ends.

Over the coming months, partners will prepare the technical environment, form university teams, train educators, activate users and gather feedback ahead of the academic year launch. A specific activation date has not been announced.