ChatGPT

Service Description

OpenAI EDU is an enterprise-grade artificial intelligence platform designed to support teaching, learning, research, and administrative productivity within an educational institution. The service provides secure, governed access to AI-powered tools for content generation, tutoring assistance, research support, and workflow enhancement, while maintaining institutional controls over data usage, privacy, and access.

Business Purpose

OpenAI EDU enables eligible faculty, staff, and students to leverage AI capabilities in a responsible and compliant manner, reducing reliance on unmanaged third-party AI tools and supporting institutional goals for innovation, efficiency, and digital transformation.

Key Features

• AI-assisted content creation and summarization
• Research and study support
• Teaching and instructional design assistance
• Secure, institution-managed user access
• Usage governance and policy enforcement
• Audit logging and monitoring

Supported Users (as approved by institutional policy)

• Faculty
• Staff
• Students

Access & Authentication

• Access is provided through institution-managed identity and access management
• Role-based access controls apply
• Authentication via Single Sign-On (SSO) 

Data Handling & Privacy

• OpenAI models are not trained on VU user data when the VU tenant is used.
• Data usage governed by OpenAI EDU contractual terms

Service Availability

• Cloud-based service
• Availability aligned with OpenAI EDU service-level commitments
• No scheduled downtime required for normal use

Request & Incident Management

• Approved students, faculty and staff accounts are auto-provision on access.
• Requests for additional features are submitted via the IT Service Management portal
• Incidents and service issues are logged through the Service Desk and the IT Service Management portal
• Requests for new and additional feature enablement or changes follow standard security review and change management procedures

Security Controls

• Role-based access
• Logging and audit trails
• Policy-based usage controls
• Vendor security assessments completed prior to go-live and on a rolling basis to evaluate new features
• VU Data Privacy https://www.vanderbilt.edu/cybersecurity/guidelines/generativeai/

Training, education and events

Generative AI at Vanderbilt https://www.vanderbilt.edu/generative-ai/

Existing Account with Vanderbilt Email

After January 12th 2026, when a user with an existing ChatGPT account logs in they will be prompted to authenticate with SSO and will be given a prompt with two options: 

• Option 1: Merge your existing ChatGPT account history into Vanderbilt's ChatGPT Edu account
  • Your existing chat history and conversations will move into your ChatGPT Edu account 
  • After merging, your account will be managed by your university
  • This option is recommended if your prior chats are primarily academic or work-related.
• Option 2: Do not merge your ChatGPT account history and download your chat history for creation of a new personal account
  • Create new personal account with a non Vanberbilt email
  • Login to ChatGPT using your VU credentials and choose to download chat history 
  • Follow the instructions in this article to upload chat history to new personal account