Who can apply for ChatGPT for Academic Researchers?

ChatGPT for Academic Researchers is open to researchers in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering at selected academic institutions. OpenAI is starting with 10,000 seats this summer, including researchers at the Institute for Advanced Study and École normale supérieure, and plans to expand to 100,000 seats through 2027 via a form on the announcement page.

Which OpenAI model do ChatGPT for Academic Researchers participants get?

Participants get OpenAI's frontier models, including GPT-5.6 Sol Pro at launch — the tier OpenAI markets as optimized for hard problems and long-running tasks. Their workspaces also include Codex for code and ChatGPT Work for multi-step task automation, plus OpenAI's deep research capability that can pull from hundreds of sites or dedicated scientific journals.

Will OpenAI train on data from ChatGPT for Academic Researchers?

No — ChatGPT for Academic Researchers workspaces ship with business-grade privacy and security, and OpenAI states that data from the program is not used to train its models by default. That matches the ChatGPT Team/Enterprise data policy rather than the consumer ChatGPT tier, where opt-out training is a manual toggle.

How does this compare to ChatGPT Edu?

ChatGPT for Academic Researchers is a separate research-focused program layered on top of ChatGPT Edu. For institutions that already have ChatGPT Edu, OpenAI says the free access granted through this program is coordinated through the institution's Edu workspace, so university IT does not have to set up a second tenant.

How is ChatGPT for Academic Researchers funded?

ChatGPT for Academic Researchers is part of OpenAI's larger commitment of more than $250 million through 2027 to support external scientific research and discovery. That envelope also covers the $50 million NextGenAI research-institution initiative and OpenAI's work with the U.S. Department of Energy's Genesis Mission for national laboratories and universities.

OpenAI · 2026-07-29 · major

ChatGPT for Academic Researchers — OpenAI opens Sol Pro to 100,000 scientists

OpenAI's ChatGPT for Academic Researchers gives 100,000 university scientists free access to GPT-5.6 Sol Pro through 2027, starting with 10,000 seats at the Institute for Advanced Study and École normale supérieure.

OpenAI ChatGPT for Academic Researchers announcement graphic

Free GPT-5.6 Sol Pro access for 100,000 university researchers, seeded at IAS and École normale supérieure.

Quick facts

Program	ChatGPT for Academic Researchers
Maker	OpenAI
Frontier model at launch	GPT-5.6 Sol Pro
Included tools	Codex, ChatGPT Work, deep research
Target seats	100,000 by 2027 (10,000 at launch)
First institutions	Institute for Advanced Study, École normale supérieure
Collaborators per researcher	Up to 4 per invited researcher
OpenAI science commitment	$250M through 2027

What is it?

ChatGPT for Academic Researchers gives 100,000 university scientists, mathematicians, and engineers free access to OpenAI's frontier models. The first 10,000 seats went live this summer at institutions including the Institute for Advanced Study and École normale supérieure, with the program expanding to the full 100,000 through 2027.

How does it work?

Selected researchers get workspaces with GPT-5.6 Sol Pro at launch — OpenAI's tier tuned for hard, long-running queries — plus Codex and ChatGPT Work, and OpenAI's deep research capability that can pull from hundreds of sites or specific scientific journals. Each invited researcher can add up to four collaborators from their institution. Workspaces come with business-grade privacy and security, and data is not used to train OpenAI's models by default. Institutions that already run ChatGPT Edu get access coordinated through that existing tenant.

Why does it matter?

Frontier-model access has been priced out of most academic budgets, so grant writing, literature reviews, genomic analysis, and protein modeling have largely defaulted to older or smaller models. Putting 100,000 researchers on GPT-5.6 Sol Pro puts a university group at the same tier as a well-funded startup and turns OpenAI's $250M through-2027 commitment into a concrete distribution channel — one that lines up alongside the DOE Genesis Mission and the $50M NextGenAI initiative.

Who is it for?

university researchers in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering

Frequently asked questions

Who can apply for ChatGPT for Academic Researchers?: ChatGPT for Academic Researchers is open to researchers in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering at selected academic institutions. OpenAI is starting with 10,000 seats this summer, including researchers at the Institute for Advanced Study and École normale supérieure, and plans to expand to 100,000 seats through 2027 via a form on the announcement page.
Which OpenAI model do ChatGPT for Academic Researchers participants get?: Participants get OpenAI's frontier models, including GPT-5.6 Sol Pro at launch — the tier OpenAI markets as optimized for hard problems and long-running tasks. Their workspaces also include Codex for code and ChatGPT Work for multi-step task automation, plus OpenAI's deep research capability that can pull from hundreds of sites or dedicated scientific journals.
Will OpenAI train on data from ChatGPT for Academic Researchers?: No — ChatGPT for Academic Researchers workspaces ship with business-grade privacy and security, and OpenAI states that data from the program is not used to train its models by default. That matches the ChatGPT Team/Enterprise data policy rather than the consumer ChatGPT tier, where opt-out training is a manual toggle.
How does this compare to ChatGPT Edu?: ChatGPT for Academic Researchers is a separate research-focused program layered on top of ChatGPT Edu. For institutions that already have ChatGPT Edu, OpenAI says the free access granted through this program is coordinated through the institution's Edu workspace, so university IT does not have to set up a second tenant.
How is ChatGPT for Academic Researchers funded?: ChatGPT for Academic Researchers is part of OpenAI's larger commitment of more than $250 million through 2027 to support external scientific research and discovery. That envelope also covers the $50 million NextGenAI research-institution initiative and OpenAI's work with the U.S. Department of Energy's Genesis Mission for national laboratories and universities.

Try it

Apply from the announcement page at openai.com/index/chatgpt-for-academic-researchers/