Instructure and OpenAI Announce Global Partnership to Embed AI Learning Experiences within Canvas

First-of-its-kind integration transforms education by embedding OpenAI's technology directly within the Canvas learning environment, empowering educators and amplifying student potential

SALT LAKE CITY and SAN FRANCISCO, July 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Instructure, the world's leading edtech ecosystem and maker of Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) and OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research organization, today announced a global partnership that introduces a new integration that enables teachers to create Large Language Model (LLM) workflows directly in the LMS.

This groundbreaking collaboration represents a transformative step forward in education technology and will begin with, but is not limited to, an effort between Instructure and OpenAI to enhance the Canvas experience by embedding OpenAI's next-generation AI technology into the platform.

IgniteAI announced earlier today, establishes Instructure's future-ready, open ecosystem with agentic support as the AI landscape continues to evolve. This partnership with OpenAI exemplifies this bold vision for AI in education. Instructure's strategic approach to AI emphasizes the enhancement of connections within an educational ecosystem comprising over 1,100 edtech partners and leading LLM providers.

"We're committed to delivering next-generation LMS technologies designed with an open ecosystem that empowers educators and learners to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world," said Steve Daly, CEO of Instructure. "This collaboration with OpenAI showcases our ambitious vision: creating a future-ready ecosystem that fosters meaningful learning and achievement at every stage of education. This is a significant step forward for the education community as we continuously amplify the learning experience and improve student outcomes."

This initial Canvas-native functionality brings OpenAI's technology into the classroom with educational integrity and privacy at the core of the experience:

Educator-guided, outcome-aligned AI – This integration enables educators to design learning activities that fully leverage the capabilities of OpenAI's technology, fostering deeper engagement and more enriching educational outcomes. Educators maintain complete control over the interactions, ensuring they align with learning objectives.

Student agency meets teacher visibility – Through the integration, learners benefit from dynamic and personalized educational conversations within the Canvas LMS. Educators also gain insight into students' assignment interactions with AI in Canvas. The learner information remains private to the Canvas user and is not shared with OpenAI.

Evidence-based learning, seamlessly integrated – As students interact with AI in Canvas, key learning evidence is captured and returned to the Gradebook — bridging AI-driven exploration with standards-aligned assessment.

Enhancing high-value educational experiences – By automating routine and low-value tasks, this integration creates space for educators and students to focus on more meaningful educational activities. Students experience personalized, adaptable learning journeys while educators gain valuable insights from learning artifacts directly captured within Canvas, reinforcing their ability to nurture higher-order skills.

"Now is the time to ensure AI benefits students, educators, and institutions, and partnerships like this are critical to making that happen," said Leah Belsky, general manager and VP of education at OpenAI. "With Instructure's global reach with OpenAI's advanced AI models, we'll give educators a tool to deliver richer, more personalized, and more connected learning experiences for students, and also help them reclaim time for the human side of teaching."

Leading education toward the future
The global announcement by Instructure and OpenAI signals a strategic shift towards edtech and AI companies working side by side to shape the future of education and respond to the rapid pace of technological change, focusing on where education is headed. AI benefits learners most when their engagement reflects strong practices; industry partnerships can further strengthen this.

"We are harnessing powerful technology not simply because it's innovative but because it fundamentally changes, and accelerates, the learning experience," said Daly. "Our partnership with OpenAI clearly illustrates our commitment to delivering tools that allow educators and learners to thrive amid constant change."

LLM-enabled assignment
The first tool Instructure is launching is a new type of assignment called the LLM-Enabled Assignment, designed to let educators create a custom GPT-like experience within Canvas. Teachers can define how AI interacts with students, set specific learning goals and objectives and determine what evidence of learning it should track. They can do this using natural language prompts or by leveraging an assistant within the assignment creation flow to guide them through the process.

"This new type of assignment allows students to have rich, casual and interactive conversations in a ChatGPT-like environment they already know they love," said Shiren Vijiasingam, chief product officer at Instructure. "In that process, they create visible learning evidence that teachers can confidently use, as it's mapped to the learning objectives, rubrics and skills defined by the teacher."

Through this tool, when students submit their assignments, teachers gain a high-level view of overall progress, key learning indicators and potential gaps, each supported by clear evidence. They can then dive into specific indicators to see exactly where and how a student demonstrated the required understanding in the conversation.

"What's powerful about this tool is that it enables educators to assess the student's learning process — not just the final outcome," said Vijiasingam. "This is only the first in a set of tools we will develop with OpenAI over the coming quarters. This feature provides a meaningful way to teach students how to use these tools responsibly and effectively, all within a high-quality pedagogical framework that encourages critical thinking and supports higher-order skills."

About OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company with a mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.

About Instructure
Instructure powers the delivery of education globally and reimagines the technologies that turn teaching and learning into opportunities. Today, the Instructure ecosystem of products connects the dots for educators and institutions by improving educational experiences at every age, every stage and every transitional moment—across K-12, higher education and the workforce. We encourage you to discover more at www.instructure.com/en-gb.

Contact
Brian Watkins
Corporate Communications
Instructure
(801) 658-7525
brian.watkins@instructure.com 

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