What kinds of prompts are today’s college students actually entering into ChatGPT? A newly unveiled compilation of one hundred creative and carefully selected prompts—generated and collectively refined by university students collaborating through OpenAI’s remote laboratory—offers an illuminating glimpse into precisely that question. This list not only captures the ingenuity and curiosity of students but also provides a cross‑section of how young academics are integrating artificial intelligence into their studies, career planning, and daily lives.
The project was shaped through the contributions of seventy students who represented more than fifty prestigious institutions scattered across the United States, including but not limited to Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, Ohio State, the University of California Los Angeles, Brigham Young University, and Washington University in St. Louis. These students were chosen through an application process and later gathered weekly in structured discussions where they exchanged ideas, crafted prompts, experimented with outputs, and voted collectively on which prompts were the most practical, imaginative, or impactful. The finalized list was formally released by OpenAI and has been made publicly accessible for broader exploration.
To make the collection intuitive, prompts were categorized into three overarching domains: study, career, and life. Within these groups, it becomes clear how versatile students expect ChatGPT to be. For academic purposes, the model is positioned as a study partner, capable of tutoring, simplifying complex material, or offering personalized explanations. When it comes to career concerns, the prompts recast the system as a mentor, professional coach, or even a simulated lawyer providing hypothetical guidance. Beyond these formal roles, students also devised prompts that situate the AI within everyday decision‑making, treating it as a source of practical assistance for meal planning, productivity hacks, and self‑reflection.
Interestingly, the breadth of prompt styles underscores the range of expectations students bring to generative AI. Some prompts are extraordinarily concise, such as a simple request for synonyms to enrich vocabulary; others are profoundly introspective, inviting the model to infer a user’s core life aspirations or to help articulate elusive personal ambitions. There are also examples that lean toward pragmatic utility, like a request for ChatGPT to review a dining hall menu and assemble a nutritionally balanced daily meal plan incorporating protein, fruits, and vegetables.
Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT, emphasized the collaborative atmosphere that shaped this initiative. Writing on X (formerly Twitter), he explained that earlier this year OpenAI welcomed seventy students into its designated ChatGPT Lab to exchange their best conversations with the system. Through continuous testing, refinement, and voting, the group ultimately distilled the collection into the hundred prompts judged to be most valuable for their peers across diverse campuses. Visitors to the published list can even click directly on examples, which seamlessly open within ChatGPT, allowing them to try out the experience themselves.
On a broader level, many of the prompts reflect the ambition articulated by OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, who has suggested a goal of developing AI systems that approximate the expertise of a scholar holding a doctoral degree—capable of tackling a wide array of questions with reliable detail. The notion of students relying on AI to such a significant extent raises interesting questions about pedagogy and academic standards, inviting speculation as to how professors might evaluate both the usefulness and the potential drawbacks of this growing trend.
The study prompts, in particular, reveal a pattern: students see ChatGPT as a tool not merely for entertainment or curiosity but for the serious purpose of saving time, streamlining comprehension, and providing alternative pathways into complex academic material. Still, as revealed in prior interviews with Business Insider, student opinions remain divided. While many embrace the efficiency and clarity AI can provide, others worry about the risk of excessive dependence, questioning whether they might lose critical thinking skills or diminish their own intellectual perseverance by leaning too heavily on an artificial assistant.
Meanwhile, colleges and universities find themselves reevaluating traditional methods of teaching and assessment. Some institutions have gone so far as to design specialized degree programs centered on artificial intelligence, demonstrating a forward‑looking embrace of technological change. Conversely, other educators attempt to curb the use of AI altogether by banning it from classrooms or emphasizing assessment strategies—such as proctored examinations or longhand writing assignments—that are more resistant to assistance from ChatGPT. In parallel, forward‑thinking lecturers are crafting homework and projects with built‑in safeguards against misuse, even developing internal systems to gauge the likelihood that particular assignments could lend themselves to unethical AI shortcuts.
Altogether, this curated list of one hundred student‑generated prompts highlights far more than clever queries; it documents a genuine transformation in higher education, where technology is no longer a marginal aid but an active participant in the learning environment. By exploring prompts ranging from the playful to the deeply philosophical, college students are collectively illustrating how AI has begun to reshape not only how they study and plan for the future but also how they navigate the complex challenges of everyday life.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-prompts-college-students-openai-2025-9
