University OpenAI Initiative

If you currently have a free or paid ChatGPT account associated with your CU-issued email address, you will need to decide whether you want to merge it with the CU-wide ChatGPT Edu account or change it to a personal email for personal use only.

If you choose to merge, you must first complete the Precipio training. After completing the training, you will be prompted to either merge your existing account and data into the university wide environment or export and delete your existing chat history to reset your account. Please note that deleting your chat history is permanent and can't be undone.

Optionally, if you choose not to merge, log into ChatGPT using your current process and update your email associated with that account to a personal email. ChatGPT Edu will not prompt account transfers for accounts associated with non-CU email addresses. A personal ChatGPT account cannot be used with any university information or data as it does not meet university IT security and compliance policies.  

Users with university paid individual accounts may continue using their existing accounts temporarily until CU is able to launch the paid environment version of ChatGPT Edu with comparable advanced features. 

ChatGPT Edu is a generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot technology that can process natural human language (written or spoken), images and videos, and generate a response. Through a partnership with OpenAI, CU will stand up five unique ChatGPT Edu environments for all four campuses and the system office. Each environment will be exclusive to the specific community it serves and will not be used to train OpenAI’s large language models. 

No. Faculty retain control of their curriculum and learning environment. This is a core tenet of academic freedom and is protected at CU. The provision of the tool is meant to provide additional teaching and learning options, should faculty wish to use them.  

Eligible users will need to complete the university-required AI training before they will be able to access the university instance of ChatGPT. Once the completion of the training has been logged in your university account, a license for the free instance of ChatGPT can be provisioned for you. 

CU has robust policies enshrined in our student code of conduct that bar academic dishonesty in all its forms and proscribe consequences for these actions. Nothing about the use of generative AI changes that foundational policy or the consequences available to faculty and the university should a student use the tool inappropriately. 

Yes, CU has taken steps to protect your data, including secure sign-on using your CU credentials and data encryption. OpenAI also meets recognized security and privacy standards. 

No. CU’s agreement with OpenAI prohibits the company from using any CU environment to train its large language models.  

While AI proficiency is becoming an important part of a well-rounded education and career-readiness, it is also important to acknowledge that current large language model AI technologies are resource intensive. Large language model AI systems require significant computing power, which can increase energy use and environmental impacts. Because CU is committed to doing our part for environmental stewardship and sustainability, we encourage our community to consider the following options for heightening our sustainable use of the tool: 

• 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.  
  
• Turn off unneeded AI integrations: Some software applications have AI-powered assistants running in the background. Going into the applications’ settings and disabling those assistants when not in use will lower energy consumption.