Nine months after launching TerpAI, the University of Maryland is expanding its signature AI chatbot with new features aiming to boost campus adoption.
The updates, set to launch by the end of September, are meant to broaden the chatbot’s appeal while providing equal access to AI for all students, said Axel Persaud, assistant vice president within the Division of Information Technology.
As part of the new updates, DIT plans to add access to more than 11,000 AI models to TerpAI, including the newly released GPT-5, Persaud said. TerpAI users can currently chat with OpenAI’s GPT-4o model, which was released in 2024.
To help users pick the right model, eventually the platform will sort the models into categories, such as creative writing or general purpose, Persaud said. The categorization will make the chatbot easier for students to use, he added.
As of September, at least 3,600 students, or 9 percent of the student body, have used TerpAI. Many university faculty and staff members have used the chatbot as well.
“We want to make sure everyone has some base-level of access to generative AI technology,” Persaud said.
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While AI services such as ChatGPT offer limited free use, certain features sometimes require a paid monthly subscription.
For some students, such as sophomore computer engineering major Jason Lima, a university-sponsored chatbot that surpasses those limits sounds valuable.
“It’s $20 a month, which is kind of expensive, but it might be worth it,” Lima said, referencing ChatGPT’s plus subscription. “A free version for university students, that’d be really nice, more convenient.”
Beyond its major updates, some faculty members are finding creative uses of TerpAI.
Jim Purtilo, an associate professor of computer science, worked with DIT in the spring to develop specialized AI chatbots for his software engineering students using TerpAI.
In Purtilo’s capstone class, students work on semester-long projects with real customers, including businesses and organizations that need software.
Purtilo hopes students can use his chatbots to practice mock interviews with customers, where the chatbot takes on the role of someone in need of a software solution. Students can refine their critical thinking skills with the activity, he said.
While working with TerpAI, Purtilo said he encountered some technical limitations with the platform. In one instance, an AI chatbot he tried creating for his class failed to work properly on TerpAI’s platform, forcing him to use ChatGPT instead.
Despite this setback, Purtilo said he plans to test his new chatbots with students for the first time this fall.
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Even with TerpAI’s planned improvements and widespread faculty adoption, students’ awareness and perception of TerpAI remains mixed. For some students, overarching concerns about AI outweigh any potential benefits.
“I hate AI. I actually really despise it,” said Madison Van Dyke, a senior government and politics major. “The environmental consequences just outweigh any of the benefits.”
Others, such as senior economics major Nicolas Recio are open to using AI for certain tasks but question whether it should be a university priority.
“I’m fine with it being used as a learning tool, on the premise that it will even the playing field because it’s a great resource,” Recio said. “The school’s resources could go to a lot more important things.”
