OpenAI debuts new tool Prism for scientists in push for AI discovery

SAN FRANCISCO – OpenAI is releasing a free tool aimed at making it easier for scientists to use ChatGPT to draft research papers and collaborate with colleagues, part of a larger effort to position its chatbot as an aide for scientific work and discoveries.

Prism, which OpenAI rolled out on Jan 27, uses the company’s GPT-5.2 AI model to carry out tasks related to writing and revising academic work.

A scientist might ask it to help improve the way a paper is written, find related papers to cite in their work or generate a computerised version of a handwritten diagram.

Prism works in an internet browser and uses LaTeX, a formatting system common in academic publishing. OpenAI said an unlimited number of people can use Prism to collaborate on a project.

OpenAI and its competitors such as Alphabet’s Google and Anthropic have increasingly focused on scientific and healthcare-related applications for AI – ranging from using the technology to help guide research on new drugs to having it review personal medical data.

Though the technology is still in its early days, OpenAI believes there is an appetite for such tools. On average, ChatGPT sees 8.4 million messages per week related to advanced science and mathematics topics, the company said in a report on Jan 26.

The number of so-called “advanced science messages” rose 47 per cent in 2025, OpenAI said.

Mr Kevin Weil, vice-president of OpenAI for Science – the company’s effort to push AI for scientific discovery – said during a briefing with reporters on Jan 26 that the ChatGPT maker sees this interest continuing to rise as smaller advances “start to compound.”

“I think 2026 will be for AI and science what 2025 was for AI and software engineering,” Mr Weil said, referencing the rapid ascent of AI coding assistants.

In a demonstration of Prism, OpenAI researcher Alex Lupsasca used the software to generate a version of a diagram that he had previously drawn on a whiteboard.

The manual process can take hours, said Dr Lupsasca, who is also an assistant professor of physics and math at Vanderbilt University.

Within a few minutes and a few tries (including a request to tweak the location of a label or two), Prism produced an accurate diagram.

Dr Lupsasca also asked for papers related to the topic of his research, and quickly received a list of results with links. He cautioned users should still check the results to make sure they were accurate, but also pointed out just making such a list usually takes him hours.

OpenAI said Prism is initially available to free and paid individual ChatGPT users, and that the product will soon roll out to business and education users as well. BLOOMBERG