UVA Darden Pioneers AI-Powered Business Education With OpenAI Partnership

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business today announced a partnership with OpenAI, solidifying its position as a leader in AI-driven business education. The initiative brings ChatGPT EDU to Darden, providing faculty, staff and students with a secure, compliant and tailored AI platform designed for academic excellence and organizational innovation.

“AI is transforming every industry from finance to healthcare to consumer goods to higher education. By integrating the use of powerful new tools like ChatGPT EDU into our curriculum, we are ensuring that Darden graduates don’t just understand AI – they know how to lead and create positive value for organizations and society with it,” said Darden Dean Scott Beardsley.

Darden is among just a few business schools worldwide – including the Wharton School and London Business School – that have partnerships with OpenAI to incorporate ChatGPT EDU. The early implementation provides Darden a competitive advantage and also positions the School to benefit from a secure generative AI platform that will unlock new capabilities in the classroom, research centers and enterprise operations.

“Darden is definitely an early adopter,” said Darden Chief Digital Officer Kush Arora. “We are putting ourselves in position to help create a blueprint of how AI is used in higher education.”

The OpenAI partnership comes at a key time for Darden, supporting the School’s ongoing digital transformation strategies and aligning with accelerating involvement in AI and its role in business and education.

Already, Darden is at the forefront of business schools shaping how AI is used by business and society and its role in business education. In September, Darden launched the LaCross Institute for Ethical Artificial Intelligence in Business, a significant new effort enabled by the largest gift in Darden history from alumnus David LaCross (MBA ’78) and his wife, Kathy.

“This OpenAI partnership is one example of how Darden is engaging with the world’s most innovative technologies and advancing ethical AI in business. We are integrating and building on the innovations incubated in the LaCross Institute and expanding them across the School,” said Darden Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Marc Johnson. “We want to provide platforms that allow Darden to teach, research and deploy ethical AI advances to meet our mission of transformational education for responsible leaders.”

The OpenAI partnership initially provides all faculty and staff with access to the ChatGPT EDU tools, with student access to be phased in. Darden students will have immediate interaction with ChatGPT EDU in classes in which the technology is being used by faculty for case studies or other purposes. AI tools are being rapidly deployed and integrated in new courses across Darden.

In just one example of how ChatGPT EDU can enhance Darden’s renowned classroom experience, Professor Raj Venkatesan plans to use the tool to assist in a marketing case study. The course requires students to develop marketing plans for a global automobile manufacturer. Venkatesan plans to use a custom GPT to create an AI-powered virtual Chief Marketing Officer, which will be able to offer instant, in-depth, continuing feedback to students on their developing marketing plans.

Arora said the example shows the potential for leveraging the technology to further assist Darden faculty, already recognized as the best business school faculty in the world.

“This will supercharge the interactive, dynamic education, helping faculty and students test ideas, refine strategies, and receive instant feedback,” he said.

Johnson said the custom GPTs will enable members of the Darden community to tailor ChatGPT EDU for individual needs or to just explore how it might help with everything from administrative support to virtual student tutoring built on Darden’s signature excellence in creating educational materials.

“The possibilities are endless,” he said.