OpenAI Launches ChatGPT for Teachers: Free AI Platform Targets K-12 Education Through 2027

OpenAI expands free educational offerings - here's what ChatGPT for Teachers can do

ChatGPT for Teachers is now available. It features new enhancements tailored to teachers' needs. The experience is free until June 2027. Educators can now try ChatGPT for Teachers, a version of ChatGPT specifically designed to meet the needs of teachers, which OpenAI launched on Wednesday. The biggest differences between it and the original ChatGPT are the added education-grade security and compliance measures, admin controls, and the ability to collaborate with other educators. Also: Where AI educators are replacing teachers - and how that'll work OpenAI has continually added new 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 parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) "Teachers get a secure workspace to adapt materials for their classrooms, get more out of prep time, collaborate with peers, and get comfortable using AI on their own terms," OpenAI wrote in the release. Also: AI agents arrive in US classrooms Despite ongoing debate, AI is increasingly playing a role in education -- students use AI tools for everything from routine homework to projects and studying for finals, while overworked teachers use them to prep lesson plans and handle admin tasks (and sometimes even grade students). AI companies are targeting students and teachers as their next big user base. At the same time, some research indicates that using AI tools can harm critical thinking, which both students and teachers are concerned will impact education long-term. The service is free for verified K-12 educators in the US until June 2027. To learn how to get started, keep reading. ChatGPT for Teachers offers users all of the tools available in ChatGPT with higher usage limits, including unlimited messages with GPT-5.1 Auto, search, file uploads, image generation, and connectors, which can be particularly helpful for teachers, as they can link ChatGPT to their everyday applications, such as Canva, Google Drive, Microsoft 365, and more. Also: Students are using AI tools instead of building foundational skills - but resistance is growing "Teachers get a secure workspace to adapt materials for their classrooms, get more out of prep time, collaborate with peers, and get comfortable using AI on their own terms," OpenAI wrote in the release. The company said that ChatGPT for Teachers can remember educator details, like the grade level they teach, to help personalize curriculum materials and responses. The added bonuses are new features that address obstacles teachers typically encounter when using AI in the classroom, such as privacy and security concerns. To address this, OpenAI said that any information shared with ChatGPT for Teachers will not be used to train OpenAI models by default. The ChatGPT for Teachers workspace has also been built to meet FERPA (The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) requirements, a federal law that grants parents the right of access to their children's records and, most importantly, regulates access and disclosure to them. ChatGPT for Teachers also includes Admin controls that allow schools to claim their domains and educators to access using SAML SSO. Also: Can AI save teachers from a crushing workload? There's new evidence it might Collaboration is another major difference of this feature, as teachers can create custom GPTs and share them with colleagues. For help getting started, teachers can view example prompts from other teachers who are using ChatGPT in the textbox of their workspace. The service is currently free and will remain so until June 2027. To access it, teachers and staff at K-12 schools or US districts can verify their educator status using SheerID, which is accessible via the OpenAI website. Also: Why AI chatbots make bad teachers - and how teachers can exploit that weakness After the free period concludes, OpenAI says it may need to adjust pricing but will attempt to keep the prices a low and affordable as possible. Before making the switch, the company also said it will provide users with advance notice for schools to have plenty of time to decide if they want or need to make the switch. Beyond this, the company is already rolling out ChatGPT for Teachers to a cohort of nearly 150,000 teachers and staff that includes districts and schools throughout the country, such as Capistrano Unified School District (CA), Dallas Independent School District (TX), and Fairfax County Public Schools (VA).

OpenAI rolls out 'ChatGPT for Teachers' for K-12 educators and districts

OpenAI on Wednesday announced ChatGPT for Teachers, a version of its artificial intelligence chatbot that is designed for K-12 educators and school districts. Educators can use ChatGPT for Teachers to securely work with student information, get personalized teaching support and collaborate with colleagues within their district, OpenAI said. There are also administrative controls that district leaders can use to determine how ChatGPT for Teachers will work within their communities. OpenAI said it is initially launching ChatGPT for Teachers with a cohort of districts that represent roughly 150,000 educators. ChatGPT for Teachers will be free to K-12 educators in the U.S. through June 2027, the company said. "Our objective here is to make sure that teachers have access to AI tools as well as a teacher-focused experience so they can truly guide AI use," Leah Belsky, vice president of education at OpenAI, told reporters during a briefing. The company said student data will be protected and that anything shared within ChatGPT for Teachers will not be used to train its models.

OpenAI made a free version of ChatGPT for teachers

It's well-documented that many students use ChatGPT to do their homework for them, and now OpenAI would like teachers to use it to write those student's homework, too. The company hopes to entice K-12 school employees to work with its AI models via the newly announced ChatGPT for Teachers, a version of the AI assistant that's secure enough to be used in a school environment and free until June 2027. OpenAI pitches this new ChatGPT as a way for educators to create material for the classroom, "and get comfortable using AI on their own terms." ChatGPT for Teachers includes unlimited messages with GPT-5.1 Auto, connectors to other apps, file uploads, image generation and memory features, just like the consumer version of the AI. Where this version differs is in its compliance with the Family Education Rights Act, which governs how schools store student information, and in the ways OpenAI is pushing collaboration features. Besides being able to share a chat with colleagues, OpenAI says it'll also populate fresh chats with suggestions of ways other teachers have used ChatGPT. Before it began targeting teachers specifically, OpenAI made several passes at getting more students to use its AI models. The company's ChatGPT Edu gives institutions a way to offer ChatGPT access in the same way they do an email account. There's also Study Mode, a feature available in all versions of ChatGPT, that focuses the chatbot's answers on explaining things step-by-step. OpenAI isn't alone in trying to own the education market -- Google has offered aggressive discounts on Gemini for students -- but clearly it thinks appealing to teachers could help cement its position.

OpenAI Introduces 'ChatGPT for Teachers' to Further Destroy the Minds of Our Youth

Educators across the country have expressed concern about how AI will impact the classroom, encouraging kids to vibe their way to passing grades instead of actually learning. So OpenAI has decided to fight fire with fire and give educators access to ChatGPT for Teachers. Finally, teachers can have their chatbot grade the work of their students' chatbots. Problem solved. According to the company, ChatGPT for Teachers is designed to help educators prepare materials for their classes, and it will support Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) requirements so that teachers and school staff can securely work with student data within the workspace. The company says the suite of tools for teachers will be available for free through June 2027, which is probably the point at which OpenAI will need to show that it can actually generate revenue and stick its hand out to demand payment from teachers who have become reliant on the suite of tools. ChatGPT for Teachers is specifically designed for educators working with students in K-12. OpenAI has a similar but slightly different plan to get colleges hooked on ChatGPT, which it calls ChatGPT Edu. Many colleges across the country have signed up for that program and integrated the chatbot into part of the campus experience. It's clear that schools have become a battleground for AI companies who desperately want to get their product ingrained into as many institutions as possibleâ€"likely, in part, because they are rich sources of unique data that can be used to train models, and because many of them have massive budgets and rarely ditch a service once they commit to it. Elon Musk’s xAI offered free access to its chatbot Grok to students during exam season, and Google is offering Gemini AI to students for free through the end of next year's academic calendar. Whether the presence of the chatbots in these spaces really serves anyone but the company that makes the product is unknown at this point. Teachers are already having problems getting kids to engage with the work in front of them. The country has fallen way behind in math scoresâ€"so far, in fact, that UC San Diego launched a remedial course because many of its incoming students couldn't do middle school-level math. And some students are leaning into LLMs to complete coursework without learning the material for themselves. There is already mounting evidence that relying on AI can erode critical thinking skills, which is something you'd like kids to be engaging in, at least during school hours. Other studies have shown that people “offload†the more difficult cognitive work and rely on AI as a shortcut when it's available, ultimately harming their ability to do that work when they don't have the tool to lean on. So what could go wrong giving those tools to both students and teachers? Seems like we're going to find out.

ChatGPT for Teachers from OpenAI launches

ChatGPT for teachers is the latest big education bet from OpenAI. Credit: OpenAI OpenAI is making another major investment in AI-powered education, announcing a new teachers-only ChatGPT workspace designed specifically to help educators with their classroom workload. With the new ChatGPT for Teachers, users get full access to ChatGPT 5.1 Auto with unlimited messages, search, file uploads, connectors, and image generation, as well as educator-specific onboarding, admin controls, and personalized prompts. The features have already rolled out to 150,000 teachers and staff across U.S. school districts, says OpenAI. Rather than the standard security framework built into ChatGPT, ChatGPT for Teachers is designed with "education-grade privacy, security, and compliance programs," says OpenAI, intended to bring the tech in line with requirements under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Under these guidelines, ChatGPT for Teachers can't retain any student data to be used for model training. Educators and administrators can also collaborate on projects and custom GPTs within the shared workspace, the company explains, and upload existing files from Google Drive or Microsoft 365 accounts to provide ChatGPT with context for lesson plans, grades, and data analysis. OpenAI is offering it for free to verified educators and school leaders until June 2027. According to the AI giant, K-12 teachers are "leading education's AI transformation" and OpenAI has increasingly pushed for its AI tools to enter the early childhood education space as its refashioned EdTech for higher education. "Universities are starting to treat AI as core infrastructure for education, and we also know that students use ChatGPT as a 24/7 learning companion," says Leah Belsky, vice president of education for OpenAI. "In our view, every student today is going to grow up in a world that is shaped by powerful AI and teachers will play a key role and helping both students and parents navigate that change." OpenAI has placed a huge bet on AI's educational potential, launching a nationwide AI training program with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), signing deals with college systems that give ChatGPT to students for free, and even consulting with the Ministries of Education of foreign governments.

ChatGPT for Teachers offers free access for educators

Why it matters: ChatGPT's launch three years ago sparked a war over cheating in schools, and now OpenAI hopes to woo teachers on the front lines with its tools. The big picture: Of the over 800 million people using ChatGPT weekly, teachers are some of the earliest and most active adopters, OpenAI said in a briefing with reporters. * ChatGPT for Teachers will be free until June 2027, at which point OpenAI says it will try to keep the price "close to free" and "as affordable as possible." Driving the news: ChatGPT for Teachers is a purpose-built version of the world's most popular chatbot, designed to help with classroom busywork that takes teachers away from working directly with students, OpenAI said in a blog post Wednesday. How it works: The offering includes the standard version of ChatGPT with a few bells and whistles, including: * Collaboration features designed for teachers, along with unlimited messages with GPT-5.1 Auto, search, file uploads, and image generation. * Enhanced security and compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which forbids schools from sharing information about students without permission from a parent. * Administrative controls for school and district leaders. By the numbers: In the 2024-2025 school year, over half of teachers said they used AI in school work, according to a Gallup poll. * Teachers who used AI at least weekly estimate an average time savings of 5.9 hours per week, which is around six weeks of time savings over a school year. The other side: When students headed back to class this fall, many school policies around generative AI were still a confusing mess. * Teachers know that kids are secretly using ChatGPT. Tech tools that used to work for cheating often fail and false accusations are undermining trust. * The tension goes both ways. Kids know teachers are using AI and see this as a double standard. Between the lines: OpenAI stressed that this version of ChatGPT is for teachers. It's not designed for K-12 students, many of whom do not even reach the age limit to use ChatGPT. * Earlier this year, OpenAI rolled out Study Mode, a feature designed to guide students into using ChatGPT as a learning tool and not a cheating tool. Reality check: OpenAI says they created ChatGPT partly for teachers who are still afraid of the technology. But many teachers, like other professionals, live in fear that AI will automate them out of a job. * Alpha School, a chain of AI-driven private schools, has already done away with teachers. They have "guides" who don't create lesson plans or lectures, but act as coaches to motivate students. The bottom line: With the Trump administration's efforts to expand AI in schools, chatbots in classrooms are here to stay and OpenAI wants a desk in the front row.

OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT for Teachers with education-grade privacy

OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT for Teachers, a dedicated workspace designed for educators and school administrators. The platform supports classroom preparation, collaboration, and teacher-driven exploration of AI, while maintaining privacy and compliance standards required for school environments. Teachers are among the most active users of ChatGPT, and many rely on AI tools to streamline weekly planning and improve classroom readiness. ChatGPT for Teachers provides a controlled environment where educators can work with their own materials, handle student-related content securely, and use AI in ways that align with school policies. The workspace also offers tools for district leaders to manage accounts and maintain organization-wide security. The system is built to protect student information and meets FERPA-related requirements. Content shared within ChatGPT for Teachers is not used to train OpenAI models by default, and the workspace operates with education-specific privacy measures. Personalized teaching support Educators can set preferences such as grade level, curriculum references, and response style. These details help the system tailor outputs to the teacher's classroom context, with full user control over what is saved. Integration with commonly used tools The workspace connects with Canva for presentations and supports importing documents and resources from Google Drive and Microsoft 365. This setup helps teachers start each session with their existing files already in context. Examples from practicing teachers Ready-to-use examples, prompts, and ideas shared by educators appear directly below the message composer, helping teachers understand practical classroom applications. Collaboration tools Teachers can co-develop lesson materials using custom GPTs and shared project spaces. Schools and districts can organize their staff into one workspace for coordinated planning. Administrative features School and district leaders can claim their domain, enable SAML SSO, assign roles, and manage educator accounts. These controls help ensure consistent security and oversight across the institution. How teachers already use ChatGPT Educators using ChatGPT highlighted several common tasks, including: To support large-scale use, OpenAI is working with an initial cohort of districts representing nearly 150,000 teachers and staff. These districts are providing operational insights and helping shape ongoing improvements to ChatGPT for Teachers. The cohort includes: Capistrano Unified School District (CA), Dallas Independent School District (TX), Fairfax County Public Schools (VA), Fulton County Schools (GA), Houston Independent School District (TX), Humble Independent School District (TX), Idaho Digital Learning Alliance (ID), KIPP Miami Public Schools (FL), KIPP New Jersey Public Schools (NJ), KIPP Public Schools Northern California (CA), Lynwood Unified School District (CA), Prince William County Public Schools (VA), Region One Education Service Center (TX), School District U-46 (IL), Township High School District 211 (IL), and Waukee Community School District (IA). OpenAI is also coordinating with the Delaware Department of Education, which has adopted ChatGPT for employees and is supporting statewide exploration for educators. OpenAI is releasing an AI Literacy Blueprint to help school leaders and policymakers support responsible, teacher-led use of AI. This initiative builds on the company's work with the American Federation of Teachers and partnerships with Ministries of Education in Estonia, Greece, and other regions focused on K-12 and higher education. K-12 educators and staff in the U.S. can access ChatGPT for Teachers after completing verification through SheerID. The service is free through June 2027, with any post-2027 pricing changes to be communicated in advance to help schools plan future use.

OpenAI Unveils Complimentary ChatGPT version for Educators: Details on Features and Availability

OpenAI Releases free ChatGPT for Teachers with New Features for Smarter Education OpenAI's launch of the new ChatGPT for Teachers marks a significant milestone in how AI is being designed for real classroom needs. This free version, which is exclusively designed for K-12 teachers in the United States, aims at offering a safe and trusted environment where teachers can make use of AI in their everyday activities without having to deal with privacy issues. As more teachers explore AI to save time and personalize learning, the need for safe and educator focused tools has never been clearer. This new version comes at a time when educational institutions are going through rapid development, creating both challenges and opportunities.

OpenAI launches free ChatGPT for Teachers through June 2027 By Investing.com

Investing.com -- OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT for Teachers, a free AI workspace designed specifically for educators, available at no cost to verified U.S. K-12 teachers through June 2027. The new platform aims to support the 800 million weekly ChatGPT users, among whom teachers are some of the earliest and most active adopters. According to OpenAI, three in five educators already use AI tools, with regular users reporting they save hours each week that can be redirected to student interaction. ChatGPT for Teachers provides a secure environment where educators can adapt classroom materials, maximize prep time, and collaborate with colleagues. The platform includes unlimited messages with GPT-5.1 Auto, search capabilities, file uploads, connectors, and image generation. School administrators receive administrative controls to bring teachers and staff into a unified account with education-grade privacy and security features that protect student data and support FERPA requirements. Key features include personalized teaching support that remembers details like grade level and curriculum, integration with tools like Canva, Google Drive, and Microsoft 365, and collaboration capabilities for shared projects. The platform also offers examples from experienced teacher users and administrative controls for school leaders. OpenAI is working with its first cohort of school districts representing nearly 150,000 teachers and staff across 16 districts and the Delaware Department of Education to gather feedback and improve the platform. "Whether our staff are longtime ChatGPT users or just getting started, this is an exciting step forward. They will have access to trusted AI tools that help them save time, think bigger, and focus on what matters most: supporting our students and community," said Kerri Holt, Chief Technology Officer at Houston ISD. The company has also released an AI Literacy Blueprint for school leaders and policymakers to support responsible AI use in education. This initiative builds on OpenAI's partnerships with the American Federation of Teachers and education ministries in countries like Estonia and Greece. U.S. K-12 educators can get verified through SheerID, OpenAI's third-party verification partner, to set up a free workspace and invite colleagues to join. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

OpenAI launches free ChatGPT version for teachers: Features, how to get it and more details

To get started, teachers just have to verify their educator status through SheerID. OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT for Teachers, a version of ChatGPT made especially for school educators and leaders. It is designed to help teachers save time, plan lessons, and safely explore how AI can support learning. This service is free for verified K-12 teachers and school staff in the United States until June 2027. ChatGPT for Teachers offers a secure workspace where educators can work with classroom materials and student information. "ChatGPT for Teachers brings the most helpful tools in ChatGPT -- like unlimited messages with GPT‑5.1 Auto, search, file uploads, connectors, and image generation -- into a workspace where teachers can securely work with classroom materials and student information, collaborate with colleagues, and learn from other educators," OpenAI explains in a blogpost. Also read: Meta's chief AI scientist quits after 12 years, here's why It's important to note that content shared in the workspace is not used to train OpenAI's models by default. Additionally, teachers can provide ChatGPT with details such as the grade they teach, their curriculum, and their preferred response format. This helps the AI give answers and lesson ideas that better match their classroom needs and teaching style. ChatGPT for Teachers also connects with tools that many schools already use. Educators can bring in lesson plans and files from Google Drive or Microsoft 365, and they can create presentations using Canva directly inside ChatGPT. Inside the workspace, teachers can see examples and prompts used by other educators, giving them ready-made ideas for lessons, activities, and classroom support. They can also collaborate with colleagues, co-planning lessons, creating shared templates, and building custom GPTs that match their school or district's needs. Also read: Xiaomi 14 Civi price drops by over Rs 16,700 on Amazon: Check deal details here For now, ChatGPT for Teachers is free through June 2027 for verified US K-12 educators. OpenAI notes that pricing may change after that date but says it aims to keep the service affordable and will give advance notice of any changes. To get started, teachers just have to verify their educator status through SheerID. Once verified, they can create a workspace to use on their own or invite other teachers in their school or district.