AI privacy for students: what your school, your instructors, and AI companies can see
The Morse teamPublished 9 min read
AI privacy for students comes down to whose account you're signed into and whose device you're typing on. A personal ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini account on your own laptop is outside your school's view, but as of October 2026, anything you type into a school Google or Microsoft account, a school's ChatGPT Edu workspace, or a school-managed laptop can be kept, searched, and exported by the school's administrators, sometimes after you've deleted it.
We read Google's Workspace admin and Classroom help pages, Microsoft Learn's Copilot and Purview documentation, the US Education Department's FERPA pages, one college's acceptable use policy, and the ChatGPT Edu FAQs of four universities on October 24, 2026. OpenAI's own Edu and enterprise privacy pages refused our requests that day, so the ChatGPT Edu details below come from the schools that signed the contracts. Google and Microsoft deserve credit here: both document exactly what an admin can do, so a student can check. Your school's rules on AI in coursework apply whatever account you use; this page covers only who can read your chats.
Can my school see my ChatGPT history?
Not on a personal account you use on your own device. Sonoma State's IT FAQ answers the question directly: "No one within the campus or within the CSU will be able to view your conversations, they are all private to you" (Sonoma State).
That changes in three situations, each covered below:
- You're signed into a school account, such as Gemini on your school Google account, Copilot on your school Microsoft account, or your school's ChatGPT Edu workspace.
- You're on a school-managed laptop or browser, where monitoring software can capture what you type into any AI site, personal accounts included.
- You share it. A shared link, a screenshot, or a pasted transcript goes wherever you send it.
Can my school see my Gemini chats on a school Google account?
Yes, if your school's admins choose to look. Google Vault's Gemini search, export, retention rules, and holds cover the Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus editions, and Google says a hold takes precedence over "user deletion settings" (Google Workspace Updates, June 11, 2026).
On a school account, Gemini also loses the controls you'd use on a personal one. Your "Gemini Apps Activity settings are controlled by your Google Workspace administrator," so "you may not be able to change your retention settings or see how long your chats are retained for" (Google). Temporary chats are "not available for users signed in to a work or school Google Account" (Google). Google itself gets less: its Workspace privacy hub, updated October 6, 2026, says school content "is not human reviewed or otherwise used for Generative AI model training outside your domain without permission" (Google Workspace). For personal accounts, see is Gemini private.
What happens to your school Copilot chats after you graduate?
They can outlast your account. When a user leaves and their Microsoft 365 account is deleted, Microsoft says Copilot and other AI app messages under retention "are stored in an inactive mailbox" and stay "available to an eDiscovery search" (Microsoft Learn). Deleting your Copilot history before you go doesn't settle it either: "Messages visible in your AI apps are not an accurate reflection of whether they are retained or permanently deleted," the same page says. Our page on whether Copilot is private covers the personal app.
Is ChatGPT Edu private?
From your classmates and instructors, yes. From your university, it depends on the contract your school signed, and schools word it differently:
| University | What its ChatGPT Edu FAQ says about access |
|---|---|
| University of Colorado | "CU staff and faculty cannot view users' chat interactions except when necessary for legal or compliance purposes," and it collects "aggregate and user level metadata," kept for "a 90-day rolling window" (CU Boulder) |
| University of Maine System | Won't "monitor individual users' interactions," but "retains the right to audit individual user interactions in isolated and limited cases" (UMS) |
| San Francisco State | "We will not monitor individual user activity or access personal conversations within ChatGPT" (SFSU) |
All three say OpenAI doesn't train on their Edu conversations. CU adds that at a public university, the Colorado Open Records Act applies, with exceptions "to protect individual privacy when applicable." And Maine says you can't move your Edu chat history to a personal ChatGPT account when you leave. If your school runs ChatGPT Edu, search its IT site for a FAQ like these, and read the access answer word for word.
Can teachers see your ChatGPT history?
No. An instructor isn't an admin, and none of the admin pages we read give instructors access to your personal or school AI chats. CU's FAQ says staff and faculty "cannot view users' chat interactions" outside legal and compliance cases.
The exception is an AI tool your instructor assigns. In Google Classroom, a teacher who assigns a Gemini notebook can "review chat transcripts of individual student interactions with an assigned notebook" when Gemini activity is on, and sees whether you opened it or "started a conversation." For an assigned Gem, the teacher sees only whether you opened it and started a conversation. Notebooks you make yourself under the Gemini tab "are private to their account," and if you delete your chat in an assigned notebook, it no longer appears in the teacher's view (Google for Education).
Can a school laptop or campus network see what you type into AI?
On a school-managed laptop, assume yes, personal accounts included: Microsoft documents Purview policies that capture prompts sent to consumer ChatGPT and Gemini on devices an organization manages (Microsoft Learn). Whether your school turns that on is up to your school, and its acceptable use policy is where it says so. Bates College's, updated January 3, 2023, reserves the right to "monitor, intercept and review" content on its IT resources, including through "keystroke capturing and other network monitoring technologies," keeps "logs of email and network traffic," and may have to disclose who owns "a computer or other registered network device" (Bates College). Read your own school's before you use a campus computer or a school-issued laptop for anything personal.
Does FERPA protect your AI chats?
Only the ones your school keeps. The Education Department defines education records as records "directly related to a student" that are "maintained by an educational agency or institution or a party acting for or on behalf of the agency or institution" (US Department of Education). A personal ChatGPT or Gemini account is kept by a company acting for you, not for your school, so FERPA doesn't reach it. That company's own privacy policy does.
For chats in a school account, FERPA limits who the school discloses them to, not whether the school can read them. Its regulations let a school share records with "other school officials, including teachers" who have a legitimate educational interest, and treat a vendor as a school official when it's "under the direct control" of the school for those records (US Department of Education). Google says Gemini "supports compliance with COPPA and FERPA," which describes how Google handles the school's data, not a limit on the school. This isn't legal advice.
Who can see a student's AI chats: the threat-to-tool table
Built from the sources above, read October 24, 2026. Each row is someone in a student's life; the columns say what they can reach and what keeps them out.
| Who | What they can reach | What doesn't stop them | What helps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your instructor | Transcripts of a Gemini notebook they assigned in Classroom; anything you share | Closing the notebook, since the transcript is kept when Gemini activity is on | Use assigned tools only for the assignment; your own notebooks under the Gemini tab stay private |
| Your school's IT admins | Gemini and Copilot chats in your school account, through Vault and Purview | Deleting the chat while a hold or retention policy applies | Personal questions on a personal account, on your own device |
| The ChatGPT Edu admins at your university | Whatever the contract allows: CU and Maine allow access for legal, compliance, or "isolated and limited" audits | Archiving a chat, which only hides it | Read your school's Edu FAQ before you type anything personal |
| The AI company | Its consumer terms on a personal account, such as Gemini's Keep Activity, on by default for adults | Being a student; consumer terms don't change for you | A service that doesn't keep your chats |
| A future employer, after graduation | No direct access, but a shared Gemini link outlives the chat, and retained school Copilot chats sit in an inactive mailbox | Losing access to your school account, which doesn't delete what the school kept | Never share links to sensitive chats; keep career and personal questions off school accounts |
How Morse keeps a student's AI chats private
Every route in that table runs through a copy of your chat kept by someone else: your school's Vault, a hidden folder in your school mailbox, an Edu workspace your university controls, or a consumer account tied to your name. Morse is built not to keep that copy. Your chat history is stored only in your browser, encrypted, and Morse's servers don't keep your messages or log what you write.
Use Morse on your own device. Then there's no admin console with your chats in it, no hold that outlasts your delete button, and no inactive mailbox waiting after graduation. Pick a privacy mode per chat:
- Private, for everyday questions you'd rather no host keep. It's the default for a new chat. Open-weight models like DeepSeek, Kimi, and GLM run under zero data retention agreements Morse has with its inference, search, and other providers, so they keep nothing. Where a provider confirms zero retention on each reply, Morse checks it and refuses a reply that doesn't.
- Anonymous, to use GPT, Claude, or Gemini without a school login or your name attached. Our proxy removes your account, email, and IP address and sends the message under Morse's own account. The provider sees the message without knowing it's you, and may keep it for a limited time to check for abuse, under its own policy, so leave your name and student ID out of what you type.
- E2EE, for anything no one should read, like a health question, a visa worry, or a dispute with your school. Your browser checks the secure enclave's proof that it's genuine, then encrypts the message so only that enclave can read it, and Morse's servers relay text they can't read. It relies on the enclave hardware and attestation working as designed. E2EE chats come with Pro, at $19 a month.
In every mode, Morse doesn't train AI on your content, sell your data, or show ads. Your history locks when you sign out, and unlocking it takes a key that stays on your device plus one our server gives you at sign-in. Because we don't store chats, we usually have very little to give authorities, as our privacy policy explains. Clearing your browser or losing the device deletes the history for good, and Morse can't recover it, so save a copy of anything you need for class. For a wider look at the options, read how to use AI privately, and for how courts treat AI chats, can AI chats be subpoenaed.
So who can see your AI chats?
- Your school's admins: anything in a school account. On Morse, used on your own device, your chat history stays in your browser, not in a school account.
- Your instructors: only what you share or what runs in a tool they assigned.
- The AI company: check its terms; ChatGPT's are in does ChatGPT train on your data. Morse doesn't train on your chats, and in E2EE its servers can't read them.
- A future employer: no direct route to your chats. The risks are a shared link and a copy left in a school account you no longer control.
You can try a chat on the Morse home page without an account, or sign up free.
Common questions
Can my school tell I use AI even if it can't read my chats?
Often, yes. The University of Colorado says that while it can't see individual ChatGPT Edu conversations, it collects "aggregate and user level metadata," and Bates College's acceptable use policy says the college keeps "logs of email and network traffic."
Can my parents see my school AI chats through FERPA?
Not by default. The Education Department's FERPA regulations move a parent's rights to the student once the student turns 18 or attends a college or university. The law has exceptions, so ask your registrar if this matters to you.
Does archiving a ChatGPT Edu chat delete it?
No. The University of Maine System's ChatGPT Edu FAQ says "Archiving is not deletion": it only hides the chat. Deleted chats are erased from OpenAI's systems within 30 days, with exceptions for legal or security obligations, according to the same FAQ and the University of Colorado's.
Can I ask my school for the AI chats it keeps about me?
You can ask. FERPA gives eligible students the right to inspect their education records, and a school must respond within 45 days. Whether chats held in a school account count as education records depends on the facts, so put the request in writing to your registrar or privacy office.