ChatGPT Races to Catch Gemini in the Ed-Market

ChatGPT is certainly the brand-name of AI but Google's education-focused approach has long-made it my go-to recommendation for educators in the classroom.

On Wednesday, OpenAI made a new announcement aimed at closing that gap:

A secure ChatGPT workspace that supports teachers in their everyday work so they can focus on what matters most—plus admin controls for school and district leaders. Free for verified U.S. K–12 educators through June 2027.

Is this one more way to keep the machine humming and bring in future users? Perhaps! However, a couple key features are hugely welcomed:

Education-grade security & compliance: Anything you share with ChatGPT for Teachers is not used to train our models by default, and the workspace is built to protect student data and help schools meet FERPA requirements.

Personalized teaching support: Tell ChatGPT to remember details like your grade level, curriculum, and preferred format so responses feel tailored to your teaching style and classroom. You’re in control of your settings.

Collaboration: Use custom GPTs to create templates with other teachers at your school or district, or co-plan lessons and presentations together in shared projects.

Admin controls: School and district leaders can claim their domain to bring educators into one workspace with role-based access controls, and secure accounts with SAML SSO.

Once teachers are verified (K-12 schools in the US only; requires a school email and school-issued document), they should be ready to go and I would encourage Administrators to claim their domain for added security.

Made with Gemini

OpenAI also released "A Strong and Safe Start with AI: OpenAI's Teen AI Literacy Blueprint," its attempt to do more damage control for other missteps. It is a short (12 pages with plenty of empty white space) that focuses on supporting teachers with training for further monetization, protecting core knowledge especially if GenAI doesn't develop, developing future-ready courses for further monetization, bringing AI into more public spaces for further monetization, and modernizing infrastructure, hopefully at government expense.

The document essentially suggests the best way forward on AI Literacy is more AI in more spaces and really doesn't delve in to any concrete plans, promises, or potentials. Expect more of these press-release style documents as court cases wind their way through the legal system.