# OpenAI recruits paid campus leads for ChatGPT and Codex workshops > Source: > Published: 2026-07-28 17:13:54+00:00 [OpenAI](https://openai.com/?ref=runtimewire), led by co-founder and CEO [Sam Altman (@sama)](https://x.com/sama?ref=runtimewire), is recruiting undergraduate Campus Leads to run student communities around ChatGPT and Codex during the 2026-27 academic year. The application directs candidates to its Student Collective program. [OpenAI application call on X](https://x.com/OpenAI/status/2082146059271417879?ref=runtimewire) The initiative puts student organizers at the center of OpenAI's campus distribution program. Leads will teach peers how to use its products, help them start projects and organize showcases where those projects can attract other students. OpenAI supplies the subscriptions, event funding, materials and access to OpenAI staff. That approach follows a thesis Altman has advanced inside and outside education: capable AI has to reach people who can turn it into useful work. In [a June 2026 essay](https://openai.com/index/built-to-benefit-everyone-our-plan/?ref=runtimewire), Altman and chief scientist Jakub Pachocki argued for a "broad distribution of power" as AI improves. Before co-founding OpenAI, he left Stanford to build Loopt, a mobile location startup that [Green Dot agreed to acquire for $43.4 million](https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/loopt-yc-s05-acquired-by-green-dot-for-434m/?ref=runtimewire) in 2012. ### A paid campus operating role The [Student Collective application page](https://openai.com/student-collective/?ref=runtimewire) lays out a detailed workload. Campus Leads will work in pairs, run four workshops per semester, hold weekly Studio Hours for student projects and organize one campus-wide showcase each semester. OpenAI expects an average commitment of four to six hours a week from August 2026 through June 2027, with campus programming starting in September. OpenAI says applicants do not need prior Codex experience or an AI project portfolio. It is screening for students who can assemble communities and make events useful to beginners across different majors. The application asks candidates to submit short videos about an AI use case their peers should know and something they helped make happen on campus. It also asks what problem facing young people matters most to them and what they have recently changed their mind about. Selected leads receive a ChatGPT subscription and Codex credits for the program's duration, plus funding, additional credits and merchandise for events. OpenAI also promises training, workshop guides, access to OpenAI staff and a cash stipend paid after each semester. The public page does not list the stipend amount. Some participants may be invited to OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters in June 2027. Applications close on August 10th at 11:59 p.m. PT. Candidates must be at least 18, enrolled in an undergraduate program as of August and expect to graduate after December 2027. The initial eligible countries are the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Japan and South Korea. Applicants need work authorization in the country where they study. The qualification list excludes students who are current ambassadors or interns for another AI program or company. OpenAI's FAQ separately bars Campus Leads from participating in another ambassador program while serving. That condition gives OpenAI a dedicated representative on each participating campus during a period when rival labs are competing for students' default AI habits. ### From campus events to a repeatable channel The Student Collective extends a smaller campus push OpenAI ran earlier in 2026. In April, [OpenAI said](https://edunewsletter.openai.com/p/lab-april-2026?source=queue&ref=runtimewire) over 40 students were bringing ChatGPT Lab events to 40 campuses in the United States and Canada. The new program converts that event model into an academic-year operation with recurring workshops, office hours and showcases. OpenAI does not state how many campuses or lead positions it intends to fund. Working in pairs means every participating campus requires at least two selected students, making the undisclosed cohort size the key constraint on how broadly the program can run this fall. OpenAI is also selling ChatGPT Edu to institutions. In March, OpenAI [said hundreds of universities](https://openai.com/index/ai-education-opportunity/?ref=runtimewire) were using the product and described college-age adults as ChatGPT's largest-adopting age group. Student Collective gives OpenAI a route into departments and clubs that may sit outside institution-wide purchasing decisions. A student workshop can reach classmates before a university administration completes procurement, policy reviews or faculty training. Other AI companies have arrived at a similar playbook. [Anthropic's Claude Campus program](https://claude.com/programs/campus?ref=runtimewire) supports student-run builder clubs with API credits and a paid stipend. In August 2025, [Google offered college students free AI Pro access](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/gemini/google-ai-pro-students-learning/?ref=runtimewire) in several countries and committed $1 billion over three years to US AI education, training and research. OpenAI's version places Codex alongside ChatGPT throughout the program. That choice pushes campus communities from chatbot familiarity toward building software and projects with an AI coding agent. It also creates a direct product feedback channel: students experiment with OpenAI tools in real coursework and side projects while Campus Leads maintain access to OpenAI staff and a global peer network. Campus Leads will operate inside unresolved debates over academic integrity, privacy and the role of generated work in assessment. OpenAI has previously [called for universities to develop responsible-use policies and AI training](https://openai.com/global-affairs/college-students-and-chatgpt/?ref=runtimewire). Its Student Collective materials emphasize beginner access and project building, leaving each lead to translate those goals into the rules and culture of a particular campus. For Altman, the program is a grassroots counterpart to OpenAI's large institutional education deals. The immediate work falls to undergraduates who can reserve rooms, convene classmates and explain the tools in the language of their own departments. If the model works, OpenAI gains a local teaching and distribution network that renews itself every semester.