GPT-Rosalind Academic Plan: Eligibility, Free Seats & Application Checklist

Quick answer: OpenAI’s new Rosalind Academic Plan offers eligible academic labs at U.S. universities up to 30 ChatGPT Business Standard seats at $0 per user per month for up to 12 months. GPT-Rosalind access is separate and still requires trusted-access approval. The plan is for principal investigators (PIs) and lab leads applying on behalf of a lab—not for individual students—and API access is not included.^[1]

60-second eligibility check

Your lab is a likely fit only if all of these are true:

• It is an academic lab at a U.S. university.
• The applicant is the PI or lab lead and has authority to manage access.
• The lab conducts legitimate life-sciences research.
• The lab can identify a university safety contact and explain its intended use.
• The university can complete institutional and identity verification.

If your university does not already have an OpenAI Enterprise agreement, the PI or lab lead can apply through the Rosalind Academic Plan. If the university does have an Enterprise agreement, the lab must request access through that existing Enterprise process instead.^[1]

What the plan includes

Approved labs can receive:

• up to 30 named Business Standard seats;
• a sponsored price of $0 per user per month;
• access for up to 12 months;
• commercially available frontier OpenAI models within plan usage limits; and
• GPT-Rosalind after a separate trusted-access approval.^[1]

OpenAI says research data shared through this plan is not used to train its models by default.^[1]

What is not included

API access is not included in the academic plan at this time. Approval for Business Standard seats also should not be treated as automatic approval for GPT-Rosalind; trusted access is a separate gate.^[1]

Application checklist for PIs and lab leads

Prepare this information before opening the application:

1. University details: official institution name, department and institutional web page.
2. Applicant identity: PI or lab-lead title, appointment and university email.
3. Lab description: research area, team size and relevant public lab or faculty page.
4. Intended use: a clear, non-promotional explanation of the scientific work the lab wants GPT-Rosalind to support.
5. Governance: who will receive seats, how permissions will be managed and how departing members will be removed.
6. Safety contact: the designated institutional contact who can help oversee responsible use.
7. Data plan: what data may be used, what must stay out of the system and what university policies apply.
8. Enterprise check: confirmation from university IT or procurement about whether an OpenAI Enterprise agreement already exists.

OpenAI says its review verifies the institution and the applicant, assesses the lab’s affiliation, research activities and intended use, and establishes responsibilities for the lab lead and a designated institutional safety contact.^[1]

How to apply

Path A: Your university has no OpenAI Enterprise agreement

1. Open the official Rosalind Academic Plan announcement.
2. Select the eligibility/application link.
3. Sign in with the account you will use for the lab application.
4. Submit the institutional, identity, research-use and safety information requested.
5. Complete verification and wait for the trusted-access decision.
6. If approved, activate the workspace and invite up to 30 named lab members.

Path B: Your university already has OpenAI Enterprise

Do not create a parallel academic workspace. Ask the university’s Enterprise administrator to submit or coordinate the GPT-Rosalind request through the existing account process.^[1]

A copy-paste internal request to university IT

Subject: Check required before Rosalind Academic Plan application

Hello,

Our lab is evaluating OpenAI’s Rosalind Academic Plan for life-sciences research. Before applying, could you confirm whether the university already has an OpenAI Enterprise agreement and, if so, identify the administrator or process for requesting GPT-Rosalind access?

Lab: [LAB NAME]
PI/lab lead: [NAME AND TITLE]
Department: [DEPARTMENT]
Proposed research use: [2–3 SENTENCES]
Expected named users: [NUMBER, UP TO 30]
Institutional safety contact: [NAME/ROLE OR “TO BE CONFIRMED”]

We will follow university data-governance, security and research-compliance requirements before using the service with research data.

Thank you.

Suggested 100-word use-case statement

“Our lab studies [RESEARCH AREA] and plans to evaluate GPT-Rosalind for [EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS / BIOLOGICAL DATA REASONING / EXPERIMENTAL PLANNING / TOOL-ASSISTED ANALYSIS]. Access would be limited to named lab members under the PI’s supervision. We will use the system to support researcher review and decision-making rather than replace scientific judgment. We will follow university requirements for data classification, privacy, security and research compliance, and we will exclude data that is not approved for the environment. Our initial evaluation will measure [QUALITY, TIME SAVED, REPRODUCIBILITY OR OTHER CLEAR OUTCOME] on a defined set of low-risk workflows.”

What GPT-Rosalind is designed to do

OpenAI describes GPT-Rosalind as a specialized life-sciences reasoning model for workflows spanning biology, drug discovery and translational medicine. The company lists evidence synthesis, hypothesis generation, experimental planning, scientific tool use and data analysis among its intended applications.^[2]

The academic-plan announcement lists potential research areas including drug and protein design, disease detection and monitoring, vaccines and immune responses, genetic and RNA therapies, agriculture and animal health, ecology and conservation, and antimicrobial resistance.^[1]

This does not mean every proposed project will be approved. OpenAI says access is governed by beneficial use, safety oversight, controlled access and enterprise-grade security, and it may monitor and follow up on approved work.^[1][2]

Before adding research data

The plan’s default training statement is useful, but it is not a substitute for your university’s rules. Before uploading unpublished, personal, clinical, regulated, export-controlled or partner-owned data, get the approvals required by your institution and research agreements. Document which data classes are allowed, who can access them, and how outputs will be reviewed.

Also define a human-review rule: model output should be treated as research assistance, not validated scientific evidence. Researchers remain responsible for checking citations, calculations, assumptions, experimental feasibility and safety.

FAQ

Is the Rosalind Academic Plan free?

For approved labs, OpenAI says up to 30 Business Standard seats are $0 per user per month for up to 12 months. Usage limits still apply.^[1]

Is it available outside the United States?

Not under this academic plan at launch. OpenAI states that the plan is currently available to academic labs at U.S. universities.^[1]

Can a student apply?

The official path is for a PI or lab lead to apply on behalf of the lab. A student should work through the responsible PI or lab lead.^[1]

Does approval include GPT-Rosalind automatically?

No. GPT-Rosalind remains subject to trusted-access approval.^[1]

Is API access included?

No. OpenAI says API access is not included at this time.^[1]

What if our university already uses OpenAI Enterprise?

Use the university’s existing Enterprise access process rather than the standalone academic-plan route.^[1]

How many people can join?

An approved PI or lab lead can activate access for up to 30 named members.^[1]

Will OpenAI train on our research data?

OpenAI says research data shared through the Rosalind Academic Plan is not used to train its models by default.^[1]

Sources

1. OpenAI — Bringing GPT-Rosalind to academic research labs
2. OpenAI — Introducing GPT-Rosalind for life sciences research

Last checked: October 16, 2026. Availability and eligibility can change; use the official application page for the current decision.