Chatgpt For Teachers Rolls Out, And It's Free - Here's What Makes It Different

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• ChatGPT for Teachers is now available. 
• It features caller enhancements tailored to teachers' needs. 
• The acquisition is free until June 2027. 

Educators tin now effort ChatGPT for Teachers, a type of ChatGPT specifically designed to meet nan needs of teachers, which OpenAI launched connected Wednesday. The biggest differences betwixt it and nan original ChatGPT are nan added education-grade information and compliance measures, admin controls, and nan expertise to collaborate pinch different educators.

Also: Where AI educators are replacing teachers - and really that'll work

OpenAI has continually added caller features and services to its AI chatbot to cater to students' and teachers' needs, including Study Mode and ChatGPT Edu.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's genitor company, revenge an April 2025 suit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights successful training and operating its AI systems.)

"Teachers get a unafraid workspace to accommodate materials for their classrooms, get much retired of prep time, collaborate pinch peers, and get comfortable utilizing AI connected their ain terms," OpenAI wrote successful nan release. 

Also: AI agents get successful US classrooms

Despite ongoing debate, AI is progressively playing a domiciled successful acquisition -- students usage AI devices for everything from routine homework to projects and studying for finals, while overworked teachers usage them to prep instruction plans and grip admin tasks (and sometimes even grade students). AI companies are targeting students and teachers arsenic their adjacent large personification base. At nan aforesaid time, some investigation indicates that utilizing AI devices tin harm captious thinking, which both students and teachers are concerned will effect acquisition long-term.

The work is free for verified K-12 educators successful nan US until June 2027. To study really to get started, support reading. 

What is ChatGPT for Teachers?

ChatGPT for Teachers offers users each of nan devices disposable successful ChatGPT pinch higher usage limits, including unlimited messages pinch GPT-5.1 Auto, search, record uploads, image generation, and connectors, which tin beryllium peculiarly adjuvant for teachers, arsenic they tin nexus ChatGPT to their mundane applications, specified arsenic Canva, Google Drive, Microsoft 365, and more. 

Also: Students are utilizing AI devices alternatively of building foundational skills - but guidance is growing

"Teachers get a unafraid workspace to accommodate materials for their classrooms, get much retired of prep time, collaborate pinch peers, and get comfortable utilizing AI connected their ain terms," OpenAI wrote successful nan release. The institution said that ChatGPT for Teachers tin retrieve pedagogue details, for illustration nan people level they teach, to thief personalize program materials and responses. 

The added bonuses are caller features that reside obstacles teachers typically brushwood erstwhile utilizing AI successful nan classroom, specified arsenic privateness and information concerns. To reside this, OpenAI said that immoderate accusation shared pinch ChatGPT for Teachers will not beryllium utilized to train OpenAI models by default. 

The ChatGPT for Teachers workspace has besides been built to meet FERPA (The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) requirements, a national rule that grants parents nan correct of entree to their children's records and, astir importantly, regulates entree and disclosure to them. ChatGPT for Teachers besides includes Admin controls that let schools to declare their domains and educators to entree utilizing SAML SSO.

Also: Can AI prevention teachers from a crushing workload? There's caller grounds it might

Collaboration is different awesome quality of this feature, arsenic teachers tin create civilization GPTs and stock them pinch colleagues. For thief getting started, teachers tin position illustration prompts from different teachers who are utilizing ChatGPT successful nan textbox of their workspace.

How to get started pinch ChatGPT for Teachers

The work is presently free and will stay truthful until June 2027. To entree it, teachers and unit astatine K-12 schools aliases US districts tin verify their pedagogue position utilizing SheerID, which is accessible via nan OpenAI website. 

Also: Why AI chatbots make bad teachers - and really teachers tin utilization that weakness

After nan free play concludes, OpenAI says it whitethorn request to set pricing but will effort to support nan prices a debased and affordable arsenic possible. Before making nan switch, nan institution besides said it will supply users pinch beforehand announcement for schools to person plentifulness of clip to determine if they want aliases request to make nan switch. 

Beyond this, nan institution is already rolling retired ChatGPT for Teachers to a cohort of astir 150,000 teachers and unit that includes districts and schools passim nan country, specified arsenic Capistrano Unified School District (CA), Dallas Independent School District (TX), and Fairfax County Public Schools (VA).