Today, The Chronicle of Higher Education introduced Chron, an experimental AI-powered chatbot that is the first of its kind devoted to answering questions about the state of higher education and pressing issues on college campuses.
Leveraging the expertise of the nation’s leading independent newsroom covering colleges, Chron derives its answers from more than 130,000 source articles in The Chronicle’s digital archive, dating back to 1990. Chronicle subscribers can use Chron to examine questions that are top of mind for academic professionals, including:
- How are college presidents navigating intense debates about protecting free speech on campus?
- What can academic leaders do to restore declining public confidence in higher education?
- How can colleges better prepare students for the demands of tomorrow’s work force?
To ensure the veracity and value of its responses, Chron shares answers that are based solely on The Chronicle’s rigorous, fact-based journalism, rather than drawing from external sources that could introduce inaccuracies or misinformation. With each response, Chron provides links to relevant source articles written by Chronicle journalists and contributors.
“Modern media companies and colleges alike are navigating questions about how artificial intelligence will transform the future of their industries, and The Chronicle is committed to innovating amid a rapidly evolving landscape,” said Michael Riley, president and editor in chief of The Chronicle. “We introduced Chron to equip college administrators, faculty members, students, and families with another tool to easily discover trusted insights from decades of Chronicle reporting on higher education.”
In developing Chron, The Chronicle’s technology team experimented with several large language models, ultimately selecting Anthropic Claude 3.5 Sonnet for its accuracy, performance, and commitment to ethical principles, including transparency, respect for human values, and non-discrimination. During this experimental phase, The Chronicle will use subscribers’ questions to improve Chron and the quality of the chatbot’s answers.
Chron currently is available in beta as an exclusive benefit for The Chronicle’s Print & Digital Access subscribers. Reporters who are interested in trying Chron may request beta access by contacting Nick DeSantis at nicholas.desantis@chronicle.com. For more information, read the Chron FAQ.
About The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Since its founding by Corbin Gwaltney in 1966, The Chronicle has grown to serve millions of educators, administrators, researchers, and policymakers who rely on insights from The Chronicle to lead, teach, learn, and innovate. The Chronicle’s independent newsroom – the nation’s largest dedicated to covering colleges and universities – is home to award-winning journalists, experts, and data analysts with a passion for serving audiences with indispensable news and actionable insights on issues that matter.
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