Updating our AI services

Dear users,

First of all, we are delighted by the growing interest in and active use of our AI services. This shows us that, together, we are on the right track.

GWDG’s offering As the operator of the KISSKI AI Service Centre, GWDG makes external models available via Chat AI – including models from OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude) and ElevenLabs – to its shareholders, to selected universities in Lower Saxony and, upon request, to customers with a service contract. The external models have so far been subsidised by GWDG for its members under a fair use policy, or, in the case of service contracts, financed directly by the customers.

Background There is currently a sharp rise in demand for external AI models. GWDG has observed that usage had only increased slowly up until the end of 2025. However, this demand has risen significantly with the introduction of the Claude Opus 4.6 model, and usage continues to accelerate. We are also observing that an increasing number of users are submitting many queries simultaneously. Presumably, the associated access to ChatAI is automated or is being used in agentic workflows. This jeopardises the availability of the external models not only for individual power users but for entire user groups. Fundamentally, the increased usage is a great sign that the potential of AI is being better utilised and has been embraced by both individual users and institutions. On the other hand, this also entails rising costs for the GWDG, which can no longer be sustainably financed.

Model adjustments To ensure sustainable and fair operation, we will first deactivate the Claude Opus 4.6 model from 17 April 2026 at 14:00, as this is particularly cost-intensive. For customers with service contracts, we will also deactivate Claude Opus initially.

For universities in Lower Saxony, we unfortunately also have to discontinue the free provision of the commercial models OpenAI and Anthrofic (Claude) from the same date.

Important: Our internal models are not affected by this change and will, of course, remain available to you without restriction. All paying customers, as well as the MPG and the University of Göttingen, may continue to use the external models from OpenAI, ElevenLabs, and Claude Sonnet. However, we reserve the right to inform power users with high usage and, if necessary, to impose limits.

This is the only way to maintain a service for the benefit of all.

Need for external models If you require Claude Opus (or other external models), please feel free to contact our support team at support@gwdg.de. We will work with you to find a suitable solution.

We thank you for your understanding and look forward to continuing to develop and improve our AI services together with you.