Two years of OpenAI Academy: 250+ events and 4 million people

OpenAI marked two years of OpenAI Academy, its free AI-literacy program, in a post published on September 23. Since its launch in September 2024, the Academy has hosted more than 250 events, and more than 4 million people have engaged with its content. Educators, small business owners, developers, nonprofit leaders and community members have taken part in that work, the company says.

From access to practical skills

The Academy set out to expand access to AI training, technical guidance and community, initially focusing on developers and mission-driven organizations working on local problems. It has since grown to include self-paced courses, practical guides, in-person workshops and large multi-site events known as AI Skills Jams. This month, OpenAI added role-based learning paths for knowledge workers, developers, leaders, educators and college students; learners can earn Academy course badges by passing assessments.

The training targets problems participants face day to day. An educator might use ChatGPT to adapt a lesson; a small business owner might build a repeatable process for customer research; a developer might use Codex to plan and implement a change while retaining control over review.

Partners and community workshops

Partners are central to the programming, OpenAI says: national and local organizations bring trusted relationships, gather participants and shape programs around the work people do. Together they run recurring workshops for small business owners, educators, veterans and nonprofit leaders, alongside larger multi-city events; an AI Skills Jam for K–12 educators alone brought together more than 1,600 teachers, administrators and district leaders across eight U.S. cities.

A Community Trainer Program pilot

To grow the model, OpenAI is piloting the Community Trainer Program. Participating organizations nominate staff members to learn the Academy curriculum and how to guide a practical workshop — demonstrating useful workflows, helping people apply AI to their own tasks, encouraging peer learning and supporting participants as they evaluate results. Trainers complete training and a facilitation assessment before leading Academy sessions. The pilot is meant to help schools, workforce organizations, small-business networks and community groups build their own capacity to teach AI skills.

OpenAI says it will keep developing online courses, workshops and Academy Jams. Its goal is for more people to have someone in their community to turn to as their needs and the tools evolve.