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What happens to your personal ChatGPT account depends on which email address it uses.
This is different from Claude, where a personal account and a Cornell account always sit side by side.
If your personal account uses your @cornell.edu address
OpenAI may offer to merge your personal account into the Cornell University workspace. The prompt can appear the first time you open the Cornell workspace, and the option stays available later under Settings → Data controls. You don't have to merge: you can keep the two separate.
⚠️ A merge can't be undone
- There's no way back. Once merged, your content can't be moved back into a personal account.
- You lose it when you leave Cornell. Merged content lives in the Cornell workspace. If you leave, are removed, or lose access to the workspace, for example after you graduate, you may lose access to that content too.
- Your Plus subscription ends. If you pay through the ChatGPT website, merging cancels your personal subscription and refunds the unused portion. If you pay through the App Store or Google Play, cancel it there yourself.
- It becomes subject to Cornell's controls. Merged chats and GPTs fall under the workspace's access and controls.
- Export first. In your personal account, open Settings → Data controls → Export data and check the download before you merge. You may not be able to export from the Cornell workspace yourself afterward.
For most students, keeping your personal account separate is the safer choice. If you're unsure, contact JCB IT before you decide.
What a merge moves
| Moves to the Cornell workspace |
Doesn't move |
- Chats and their files
- Custom GPTs you created, with their instructions and files
- Projects you created, with their settings and files
- Saved memories
- Custom instructions and profile details
|
- GPTs or projects owned by someone else
- Sites
- Custom plugins and connectors
|
Details are in OpenAI's guide to migrating a personal workspace.
If your personal account uses a different email, or you keep them separate
Joining the pilot doesn't change or cancel it, or a ChatGPT Plus subscription on it. You'll have two separate accounts and can switch between them.
Click the account name in the bottom-left corner. Your accounts are listed there, for example Cornell University with your @cornell.edu address and a personal account under another email. Choose one, or choose Add another account.
Check before you start. The active account decides where a chat is saved and which settings apply. Use your Cornell account only for Cornell work.
What doesn't carry over between separate accounts
| What |
What to do |
| Chats |
Stay in the account where you had them. Copy anything you want to reuse into a document. |
| Custom GPTs you made |
Rebuild them in the Cornell workspace: copy their instructions and re-upload any files. |
| Projects and files |
Recreate projects and re-upload files. |
| Custom instructions and memory |
Copy your custom instructions text into the Cornell account's settings. Anything ChatGPT remembers in your personal account doesn't carry over. |
| Plan and usage |
Separate. A Plus subscription doesn't change what your Cornell account can do, and the reverse. |
Questions? See Getting Help with the Student AI Pilot.