ChatGPT Edu

About ChatGPT Edu

OpenAI's ChatGPT Edu Agreement is tailored for the California State University (CSU) system, providing advanced AI capabilities for all employees and students. It offers the ability to build custom GPTs for sharing within campus workspaces, as well as the needed privacy and data protection, and other enterprise security such as single sign-on (SSO).

A black and white OpenAI logo next to the red text “SDSU” on a white background.
ChatGPT at SDSU: How to Get Started

Frequently Asked Questions

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot technology that can process natural human language and generate a response, enhancing personal productivity and can assist with teaching and learning activities.

SDSU will begin sending ChatGPT Edu workspace invites to eligible faculty and staff beginning on Wednesday, March 5th. Student invites will begin on Wednesday, March 12th. 

If you have an existing ChatGPT paid plan, you will receive an additional email notice with instructions on actions to take prior to being invited to the ChatGPT Edu workspace.

There is no cost to you personally or your department. The CSU Chancellor's Office purchased the plan for all faculty, researchers, staff, and students.

There are 500,000 user licenses available system wide. These licenses were purchased to cover employees and students only. Licenses are not intended for alumni, auxiliary employees, Global Campus non-matriculated students or other campus community members such as volunteers and guests.

The CSU Chancellor’s Office has signed an 18-month (February 2025 - July 2026) contract for ChatGPT with an option to extend the agreement.

The CSU is committed to closing equity and accessibility gaps, providing access to high-quality AI tools to support academic achievement to its student and employee communities.

The CSU is providing ChatGPT Edu, a plan built for universities to responsibly deploy AI to students, faculty, researchers, and staff and to protect their privacy and intellectual property. OpenAI does not use SDSU ChatGPT Edu data to train their underlying Large Language Models.

ChatGPT licenses are funded by the CSU Chancellor’s Office.

Yes, the CSU ChatGPT Edu plan includes enterprise commercial data protection features like SAML Single Sign-On (SSO), domain verification, custom data retention windows, SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, and data encryption at rest and in transit. 

Our agreement with OpenAI includes language that ensures your ChatGPT interactions and data are not used to train their underlying large language models or improve their services.

The CSU will not be monitoring individual user interactions or conversations with ChatGPT. The CSU will collect basic use statistics to understand the extent of adoption and use, and data will only be reported in the aggregate. Individual responses, records, or identifying details will not be shared separately. Data will only be compiled and presented as a summary or group-level analysis.

Yes, the ChatGPT Edu plan allows institutions to build custom GPTs tailored to specific courses or administrative functions, which can be shared within the campus workspace to enhance learning and operational efficiency. Custom GPTs require the use of the GPT-4o model. Users will be able to create and share GPTs with individual users using the invite feature.

More information on creating and accessing third-party GPTs, refer to the ServiceNow knowledge base GPTs frequently asked questions.

SDSU AI Do’s and Don’ts provide guidelines on the types of data that can be safely uploaded to AI systems. You can upload:

  • Non-sensitive data that does not contain Level 1 (L1) classified information.
  • Public or openly shareable data that does not require special access controls.
  • De-identified data that has been stripped of personally identifiable information (PII) or other sensitive details.
  • Non-copyrighted material that you have permission to share and process.

For more details on data classification, refer to the CSU Data Classification guidelines.

Yes, OpenAI provides applications for various platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS, ensuring users can access ChatGPT across different devices. Additionally, the applications can be configured for platform-specific integrations.

For current faculty, staff and students that qualify for ChatGPT Edu and using the Free plan, you will be prompted to archive or move over your existing chat history into the SDSU workspace upon logon once you are invited to the SDSU ChatGPT Edu workspace.

For current faculty, staff and students that qualify for ChatGPT Edu and are using the Plus, Team, or Pro plan accounts, your paid plan will be deactivated once you are invited to the SDSU ChatGPT Edu workspace. Like Free accounts, you will be prompted to archive or move over your existing chat history into the SDSU workspace upon logon.

You may need to re-create any custom GPTs you previously created. GPTs in the SDSU workspace are restricted to invite only and third-party GPTs require administrator approval.

If you are no longer affiliated with SDSU or ineligible for ChatGPT Edu, your ChatGPT account registered under your sdsu.edu email address will continue to function and will not be associated with SDSU's ChatGPT Edu workspace.

Student assistants should use their student ChatGPT Edu account for both student and student assistant activities.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies offer transformative opportunities for learning, research and productivity, and their use is  becoming an increasingly important part of career-readiness for university graduates. Importantly, however, AI technologies can be resource-intensive, especially when it comes to energy consumption. As an institution committed to stewardship of the environment, SDSU is promoting the responsible and sustainable use of AI. A module on this topic is included in SDSU’s Academic Applications of AI microcredential, which is available to all students, faculty and staff.

Borrowed from that module, here are several recommendations for the responsible and sustainable use of AI to minimize the use of energy:

  • Use AI for more complex, generative tasks – When it comes to internet searches, traditional search engines are often more effective and efficient than AI tools. AI tools like ChatGPT perform best when leveraged for complex, generative tasks like problem-solving, research assistance or writing support.
  • Optimize AI prompts – Providing AI tools with well-structured prompts can reduce unnecessary AI processing. It reduces the number of queries required, which improves efficiency and lowers computational load. Tailoring prompts is a skill covered in SDSU’s Academic Applications of AI microcredential.
  • Turn off unneeded AI integrations – Some software applications have AI-powered assistants running in the background (e.g., EXAMPLES?). Going into the applications’ settings and disabling those assistants when not in use will lower energy consumption.
  • Educate and advocate for sustainable AI use – AI remains an emerging technology and, just as many people are beginning to learn to use it, many are also just learning about its environmental impacts. SDSU students and employees who are able are encouraged to incorporate sustainability into discussions of AI usage.

Meanwhile, as SDSU and the CSU roll out ChatGPT Edu, it is also important to understand how its creator, OpenAI, is addressing its environmental impacts:

Organization Level Initiatives: OpenAI is in progress on industry scorecards (ISO 14001 and 26000; and OHSAS 18001/ISO 45001), and actively working on the related disclosures (CSRD, SFDR, SECR, TCFD) and focused on research that could result lowering the carbon footprint of machine-learning training.

Self-paced learning resources are available below:

AI learning resources will be available in the CSU AI Commons by early 2025. We expect to have more information about SDSU's rollout in mid-February, 2025. Please check the Information Technology AI Services page for updates.