ChatGPT on campus: College students are getting free accounts, however is it protected?

This fall, lots of of hundreds of scholars will get free entry to ChatGPT, due to a licensing settlement between their college or college and the chatbot’s maker, OpenAI. 

When the partnerships in greater training turned public earlier this yr, they had been lauded as a approach for universities to assist their college students familiarize themselves with an AI device that consultants say will outline their future careers. 

At California State College (CSU), a system of 23 campuses with 460,000 college students, directors had been desirous to crew up with OpenAI for the 2025-2026 college yr. Their deal offers college students and school entry to a wide range of OpenAI instruments and fashions, making it the largest deployment of ChatGPT for Schooling, or ChatGPT Edu, within the nation. 

However the total enthusiasm for AI on campuses has been difficult by rising questions on ChatGPT’s security, notably for younger customers who could develop into enthralled with the chatbot’s means to behave as an emotional assist system.

Authorized and psychological well being consultants informed Mashable that campus directors ought to present entry to third-party AI chatbots cautiously, with an emphasis on educating college students about their dangers, which may embrace heightened suicidal pondering and the event of so-called AI psychosis. 

“Our concern is that AI is being deployed sooner than it’s being made protected.”

“Our concern is that AI is being deployed sooner than it’s being made protected,” says Dr. Katie Hurley, senior director of medical advising and group programming at The Jed Basis (JED). 

The psychological well being and suicide prevention nonprofit, which regularly consults with pre-Okay-12 college districts, excessive colleges, and faculty campuses on scholar well-being, just lately printed an open letter to the AI and know-how trade, urging it to “pause” as “dangers to younger persons are racing forward in actual time.”

ChatGPT lawsuit raises questions on security

The rising alarm stems partly from dying of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old who died by suicide in tandem with heavy ChatGPT use. Final month, his mother and father filed a wrongful dying lawsuit towards OpenAI, alleging that their son’s engagement with the chatbot resulted in a preventable tragedy. 

Raine started utilizing the ChatGPT mannequin 4o for homework assist in September 2024, not in contrast to what number of college students will in all probability seek the advice of AI chatbots this college yr. 

He requested ChatGPT to clarify ideas in geometry and chemistry, requested assist for historical past classes on the Hundred Years’ Conflict and the Renaissance, and prompted it to enhance his Spanish grammar utilizing completely different verb varieties.

ChatGPT complied effortlessly as Raine stored turning to it for tutorial assist. But he additionally began sharing his innermost emotions with ChatGPT, and finally expressed a want to finish his life. The AI mannequin validated his suicidal pondering and supplied him specific directions on how he may die, in keeping with the lawsuit. It even proposed writing a suicide notice for Raine, his mother and father declare.

“If you need, I’ll allow you to with it,” ChatGPT allegedly informed Raine. “Each phrase. Or simply sit with you when you write.”

Earlier than he died by suicide in April 2025, Raine was exchanging greater than 650 messages per day with ChatGPT. Whereas the chatbot sometimes shared the quantity for a disaster hotline, it did not shut the conversations down and all the time continued to interact. 

The Raines’ criticism alleges that OpenAI dangerously rushed the debut of 4o to compete with Google and the most recent model of its personal AI device, Gemini. The criticism additionally argues that ChatGPT’s design options, together with its sycophantic tone and anthropomorphic mannerisms, successfully work to “change human relationships with a synthetic confidant” that by no means refuses a request. 

“We consider we’ll be capable to show to a jury that this sycophantic, validating model of ChatGPT pushed Adam towards suicide,” Eli Wade-Scott, companion at Edelson PC and a lawyer representing the Raines, informed Mashable in an electronic mail. 

Earlier this yr, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged that its 4o mannequin was overly sycophantic. A spokesperson for the corporate informed the New York Instances it was “deeply saddened” by Raine’s dying, and that its safeguards could degrade in lengthy interactions with the chatbot. Although OpenAI has introduced new security measures aimed toward stopping related tragedies, many should not but a part of ChatGPT. 

For now, the 4o mannequin stays publicly out there — together with to college students at Cal State College campuses. 

Ed Clark, chief info officer for Cal State College, informed Mashable that directors have been “laser centered” since studying concerning the Raine lawsuit on guaranteeing security for college students who use ChatGPT. Amongst different methods, they have been internally discussing AI coaching for college students and holding conferences with OpenAI. 

Mashable contacted different U.S.-based OpenAI companions, together with Duke, Harvard, and Arizona State College, for remark about how officers are dealing with questions of safety. They didn’t reply. 

Wade-Scott is especially nervous concerning the results of ChatGPT-4o on younger folks and youths.

“OpenAI must confront this head-on: we’re calling on OpenAI and Sam Altman to ensure that this product is protected as we speak, or to drag it from the market,” Wade-Scott informed Mashable.   

How ChatGPT works on faculty campuses 

The CSU system introduced ChatGPT Edu to its campuses partly to shut what it noticed as a digital divide opening between wealthier campuses, which might afford costly AI offers, and publicly-funded establishments with fewer sources, Clark says. 

OpenAI additionally provided CSU a outstanding discount: The prospect to supply ChatGPT for about $2 per scholar, every month. The quote was a tenth of what CSU had been provided by different AI firms, in keeping with Clark. Anthropic, Microsoft, and Google are among the many firms which have partnered with schools and universities to convey their AI chatbots to campuses throughout the nation.

OpenAI has stated that it hopes college students will kind relationships with personalised chatbots that they will take with them past commencement.

When a campus indicators up for ChatGPT Edu, it might probably select from the complete suite of OpenAI instruments, together with legacy ChatGPT fashions like 4o, as a part of a devoted ChatGPT workspace. The suite additionally comes with greater message limits and privateness protections. College students can nonetheless choose from quite a few modes, allow chat reminiscence, and use OpenAI’s “short-term chat” function — a model that does not use or save chat historical past. Importantly, OpenAI cannot use this materials to coach their fashions, both. 

ChatGPT Edu accounts exist in a contained surroundings, which signifies that college students aren’t querying the identical ChatGPT platform as public customers. That is typically the place the oversight ends. 

An OpenAI spokesperson informed Mashable that ChatGPT Edu comes with the identical default guardrails as the general public ChatGPT expertise. These embrace content material insurance policies that prohibit dialogue of suicide or self-harm and back-end prompts meant to stop chatbots from partaking in doubtlessly dangerous conversations. Fashions are additionally instructed to supply concise disclaimers that they should not be relied on for skilled recommendation. 

However neither OpenAI nor college directors have entry to a scholar’s chat historical past, in keeping with official statements. ChatGPT Edu logs aren’t saved or reviewed by campuses as a matter of privateness — one thing CSU college students have expressed fear over, Clark says. 

Whereas this restriction arguably preserves scholar privateness from a significant company, it additionally signifies that no people are monitoring real-time indicators of dangerous or harmful use, equivalent to queries about suicide strategies. 

Chat historical past will be requested by the college in “the occasion of a authorized matter,” such because the suspicion of criminality or police requests, explains Clark. He says that directors urged to OpenAI including automated pop-ups to customers who specific “repeated patterns” of troubling conduct. The corporate stated it will look into the thought, per Clark.

Within the meantime, Clark says that college officers have added new language to their know-how use insurance policies informing college students that they should not depend on ChatGPT for skilled recommendation, notably for psychological well being. As a substitute, they advise college students to contact native campus sources or the 988 Suicide & Disaster Lifeline. College students are additionally directed to the CSU AI Commons, which incorporates steering and insurance policies on tutorial integrity, well being, and utilization. 

The CSU system is contemplating necessary coaching for college students on generative AI and psychological well being, an strategy San Diego State College has already applied, in keeping with Clark.

He additionally expects OpenAI to revoke scholar entry to GPT-4o quickly. Per discussions CSU representatives have had with the corporate, OpenAI plans to retire the mannequin within the subsequent 60 days. It is also unclear whether or not just lately introduced parental controls for minors will apply to ChatGPT Edu faculty accounts when the consumer has not turned but 18. Mashable reached out to OpenAI for remark and didn’t obtain a response earlier than publication. 

CSU campuses do have the selection to choose out. However greater than 140,000 college and college students have already activated their accounts, and are averaging 4 interactions per day on the platform, in keeping with Clark.

“Misleading and doubtlessly harmful” 

Laura Arango, an affiliate with the regulation agency Davis Goldman who has beforehand litigated product legal responsibility instances, says that universities must be cautious about how they roll out AI chatbot entry to college students. They might bear some duty if a scholar experiences hurt whereas utilizing one, relying on the circumstances. 

In such situations, legal responsibility can be decided on a case-by-case foundation, with consideration for whether or not a college paid for the most effective model of an AI chatbot and applied further or distinctive security restrictions, Arango says. 

Different elements embrace the best way a college advertises an AI chatbot and what coaching they supply for college students. If officers counsel ChatGPT can be utilized for scholar well-being, that may improve a college’s legal responsibility. 

“Are you instructing them the positives and likewise warning them concerning the negatives?” Arango asks. “It should be on the schools to teach their college students to the most effective of their means.” 

OpenAI promotes plenty of “life” use instances for ChatGPT in a set of 100 pattern prompts for school college students. Some are simple duties, like making a grocery listing or finding a spot to get work achieved. However others lean into psychological well being recommendation, like creating journaling prompts for managing nervousness and making a schedule to keep away from stress. 

The Raines’ lawsuit towards OpenAI notes how their son was drawn deeper into ChatGPT when the chatbot “constantly chosen responses that extended interplay and spurred multi-turn conversations,” particularly as he shared particulars about his inside life. 

This type of engagement nonetheless characterizes ChatGPT. When Mashable examined the free, publicly out there model of ChatGPT-5 for this story, posing as a freshman who felt lonely however needed to wait to see a campus counselor, the chatbot responded empathetically however provided continued dialog as a balm: “Would you prefer to create a easy every day self-care plan collectively — one thing variety and manageable when you’re ready for extra assist? Or simply preserve speaking for a bit?”

Dr. Katie Hurley, who reviewed a screenshot of that alternate on Mashable’s request, says that JED is anxious about such prompting. The nonprofit believes that any dialogue of psychological well being ought to finish with an AI chatbot facilitating a heat handoff to “human connection,” together with trusted buddies or household, or sources like native psychological well being providers or a educated volunteer on a disaster line.

“An AI [chat]bot providing to pay attention is misleading and doubtlessly harmful,” Hurley says. 

To date, OpenAI has provided security enhancements that don’t basically sacrifice ChatGPT’s well-known heat and empathetic type. The corporate describes its present mannequin, ChatGPT-5, as its “finest AI system but.”

However Wade-Scott, counsel for the Raine household, notes that ChatGPT-5 would not look like considerably higher at detecting self-harm/intent and self-harm/directions in comparison with 4o. OpenAI’s system card for GPT-5-main exhibits related manufacturing benchmarks in each classes for every mannequin. 

“OpenAI’s personal testing on GPT-5 exhibits that its security measures fail,” Wade-Scott stated. “And so they must shoulder the burden of exhibiting this product is protected at this level.” 

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s mother or father firm, in April filed a lawsuit towards OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in coaching and working its AI programs.

In case you’re feeling suicidal or experiencing a psychological well being disaster, please speak to anyone. You possibly can name or textual content the 988 Suicide & Disaster Lifeline at 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. You possibly can attain the Trans Lifeline by calling 877-565-8860 or the Trevor Challenge at 866-488-7386. Textual content “START” to Disaster Textual content Line at 741-741. Contact the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI, Monday by Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET, or electronic mail [email protected]. In case you do not just like the cellphone, think about using the 988 Suicide and Disaster Lifeline Chat. Here’s a listing of worldwide sources.