This article covers courses available through OpenAI Academy. For information about the OpenAI Certified app in ChatGPT, see: OpenAI Certified App.
Overview
OpenAI Academy offers free, self-paced courses to help you build practical AI skills. Courses cover using AI at work, building with AI, leading AI adoption, and teaching and learning with AI. You can choose the courses that match your role and goals.
Sign in with your ChatGPT account to enroll and save your progress. Courses are hosted on Gradual, which manages enrollment and progress tracking.
Availability
OpenAI Academy courses are available globally to anyone with a ChatGPT account.
Courses are free and do not require a workspace membership. Learners can access courses as individuals or through an organization. Courses are designed for different levels of experience, including introductory learning and technical courses for developers.
OpenAI Academy badges recognize that a learner completed a course and passed its respective assessment with a score of 80% or higher. Learners who complete every course and pass each assessment in an eligible pathway can also earn a certificate of completion. These badges and certificates of completion are not certifications and do not guarantee eligibility for a future certification.
Courses
| Category | Course | Estimated time | What’s covered | Learning objectives | OpenAI product focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apply AI at work | AI Foundations | 60–75 min | AI basics, prompting, context, and responsible use. | Write clearer prompts, review outputs, and use AI responsibly. | ChatGPT |
| Apply AI at work | Applied AI Foundations | 75–90 min | Repeatable workflows, capability selection, and review points. | Break work into steps, define inputs and outputs, and build a repeatable workflow. | ChatGPT |
| Apply AI at work | Agents and Workflows | 75–90 min | Delegating structured tasks to agents with human oversight. | Define tasks, context, boundaries, and checkpoints; review and improve results. | ChatGPT Work |
| Build with AI | Scope AI Solutions | 30 min | AI opportunities and solution planning. | Identify valuable opportunities and turn a selected use case into a solution plan. | OpenAI API |
| Build with AI | Evaluate AI Applications | 70 min | Evaluations, failure analysis, and quality checks. | Build representative evaluations, diagnose failures, and prevent quality regressions. | OpenAI API |
| Build with AI | Design and Build Agentic Systems | 110 min | Agent roles, tools, and handoffs. | Design reliable agents with clear roles, controlled tools, and safe handoffs. | OpenAI API |
| Build with AI | Build with Retrieval-Augmented Generation | 100 min | Retrieval pipelines and answer quality. | Build retrieval pipelines and evaluate the quality of generated answers. | OpenAI API |
| Build with AI | Optimize AI Application Performance | 30 min | Production quality, speed, reliability, and cost. | Use production evidence to balance quality, latency, throughput, reliability, and cost. | OpenAI API |
| Build with AI | Get Started with Codex | 80 min | Repository tasks, code changes, and review. | Scope coding tasks, verify changes, and provide clear evidence for review. | Codex |
| Build with AI | Extend Codex Workflows | 90 min | Reusable team workflows and oversight. | Turn effective Codex practices into repeatable team workflows with clear oversight. | Codex |
| Build with AI | Scale Codex Across Governed Teams and Systems | 100 min | Parallel workstreams, coordination, and governance. | Coordinate parallel Codex workstreams and integrate their outputs safely. | Codex |
| Lead AI adoption | AI Leadership | 180 min | Business priorities, governance, roadmaps, and adoption. | Set priorities, align stakeholders, and create an initial AI strategy draft. | No single product; AI strategy and adoption |
| Teach and learn with AI | AI for Educators | 45 min | Lesson planning, activities, assessments, and communications. | Create teaching materials and review outputs against learning goals and requirements. | ChatGPT |
| Teach and learn with AI | AI for College Students | 45 min | Study planning, group work, writing, and career preparation. | Plan work, review responses critically, and prepare applications and interviews in line with institutional rules. | ChatGPT |
Actual completion time may vary depending on how much learners choose to follow along with activities and exercises.
Access Academy courses
You can browse available courses without signing in. To start a course and save your progress, you must sign in with a ChatGPT account.
To start a course:
Go to academy.openai.com.
Select the course you want to take.
Select Enroll.
Sign in with your ChatGPT account.
Start the course.
Choose the correct ChatGPT account
Course progress and OpenAI Academy badges are associated with the email address you used to sign up for OpenAI Academy, or the email address tied to your ChatGPT account if you used Sign in with ChatGPT (SIWC).
Before beginning a course, make sure you are signed in to the correct account. If you use the wrong account, your course activity and OpenAI Academy badges will be associated with the email address for that account.
Academy accounts cannot currently be linked or merged after you begin a course.
Assessments
Every course includes an assessment to help you check your understanding. To earn an OpenAI Academy badge, complete the course and pass the assessment with a score of 80% or higher. You can also take a course without taking the assessment.
Assessments contain 10–20 questions. Questions are drawn from a bank of 50 questions for each assessment. If you do not pass, you can try again with a newly randomized selection of questions.
OpenAI Academy badges
OpenAI partners with Accredible, a digital credentialing platform, to issue and manage shareable OpenAI Academy badges. Each badge recognizes that you completed a course and passed the assessment. Badges are associated with the email address you used to sign up for OpenAI Academy, or the email address tied to your ChatGPT account if you used Sign in with ChatGPT (SIWC).
Pathway certificates of completion
You can also earn a certificate of completion by completing every course and passing each assessment with a score of 80% or higher in one of these pathways:
Foundations: AI Foundations; Applied AI Foundations; Agents and Workflows.
Codex: Get Started with Codex; Extend Codex Workflows; Scale Codex Across Governed Teams and Systems.
API: Scope AI Solutions; Evaluate AI Applications; Design and Build Agentic Systems; Build with Retrieval-Augmented Generation; Optimize AI Application Performance.
AI Leadership, AI for Educators, and AI for College Students are standalone courses and do not form a pathway.
OpenAI Academy badges and pathway certificates of completion are not certifications and do not guarantee eligibility for a future certification.
Reporting for organizations
Reporting is available for organizations that want visibility into learner participation and course completion.
Customers interested in reporting should contact their OpenAI account team for more information about availability and access.
Get help
Gradual manages course access, enrollment, and progress. Contact Gradual support at support@gradual.com for:
Login or access issues after selecting Sign in with ChatGPT
Enrollment or permission issues
Missing or incorrect course progress
Courses that are not visible
A course that is not working, including problems loading or using the course platform
Accredible issues and manages OpenAI Academy badges and certificates. Contact support@accredible.com for:
Missing OpenAI Academy badges or certificates, including “Where is my certificate?” questions (you can also contact OpenAI Support)
Name changes for OpenAI Academy badges or certificates
Problems accessing or viewing an OpenAI Academy badge
Problems sharing an OpenAI Academy badge
When contacting either support team, include the email address you used for the course and the course name.
FAQ
Are Academy courses free?
Yes. Academy courses are free. You must have a ChatGPT account to start a course and save your progress.
Which ChatGPT account should I use?
Use the ChatGPT account you want associated with your course progress and OpenAI Academy badges.
Your course activity and OpenAI Academy badges will be associated with the email address you used to sign up for OpenAI Academy, or the email address tied to your ChatGPT account if you used Sign in with ChatGPT (SIWC). Before beginning a course, confirm that you are signed in to the correct account.
Who should I contact for help?
Contact Gradual for issues with course access, enrollment, saved progress, the course platform, or a course that is not working. Contact Accredible for name changes related to OpenAI Academy badges or certificates. For missing certificates, including “Where is my certificate?” questions, contact Accredible or OpenAI Support.
Contact Gradual support or Accredible support for assistance.
Are OpenAI Academy badges the same as OpenAI Certifications?
No. OpenAI Academy badges recognize that you completed a course and passed the assessment with a score of 80% or higher. Pathway certificates of completion recognize completion of every course and assessment in an eligible pathway. Neither is a certification.
Can workspace administrators track learner progress?
Reporting is available for organizations. Contact your OpenAI account team for more information about availability and access.
Can my organization export Academy courses or import them into an LMS?
Academy course content cannot currently be exported from OpenAI Academy or imported into an organization's LMS. OpenAI is working to make SCORM packages available for organizations to deliver courses through their LMS. There is no estimated availability date yet. In the meantime, take courses in OpenAI Academy, where OpenAI maintains course quality and updates content as products evolve.