Custom GPTs

 

Custom GPTs are personalized versions of ChatGPT that can be tailored with specific instructions, knowledge, and behaviors to suit unique needs. Custom GPTs allow users to adjust tone, style, expertise and workflows, and can be built around a specific task or goal, making them useful for teaching, learning, or professional contexts.

Note: Custom GPTs generally do not connect to live external tools (e.g., spreadsheets, calendars, or project systems). Instead, they work best as focused assistants with a defined purpose or knowledge base.

How to use Custom GPTs

Teaching

  • Curriculum Support: A GPT can be trained to align with a specific course or syllabus (e.g. a Biology 101 GPT), offering practice questions, summaries and step-by-step explanations that reinforce classroom lessons.
  • Course Resource Navigator: Train a GPT on assigned readings, lecture notes, or key terms to act as a searchable course guide for students.

Instructor note: We do not recommend using custom GPTs for grading or replacing faculty-created course content.

Learn more about custom GPTs for teaching

Learn more about teaching with AI

Learning

  • Study Companion: Students can create an “all-purpose” GPT tailored to a course, generating summaries, flashcards, or quizzes on demand. Note to instructors: some guidance may be needed to help students build effective versions.
  • Language Drill Partner: For recurring skill-based practice, like daily vocabulary or grammar drills, a GPT can provide consistent exercises to revisit.
  • Project Mentor: A GPT can give structured checklists, milestones, and reminders for larger projects (research papers, lab work, coding projects), helping students stay organized without doing the work for them.

Working

  • Knowledge Assistant: Employees can design GPTs that embed policies, documentation, or workflows, acting as a quick reference tool.
  • Professional Training: Teams can create onboarding GPTs or interactive manuals for new hires or cross-training, helping with consistent and accessible training.
  • Creative Collaboration: Writers, marketers, or designers can co-create with a GPT tuned to a brand’s tone or style.
  • Meeting Prep Assistant: A GPT can be loaded with past meeting notes or agendas to provide quick summaries and prepare questions, helping employees get up to speed faster.

In Short

Custom GPTs work best when they are built with a specific goal or role in mind—for example, a “Biology 101 Companion,” a “New Hire Guide,” or a “Brand Voice Assistant.” To use a GPT to remember your personal or work context, the standard ChatGPT model can already do that through your profile and conversation history.