Kellogg AI Tools FAQ


Kellogg is providing centrally funded access to AI tools for eligible faculty, staff, and PhD students. This FAQ covers eligibility, how to request access, how to choose a tool, and how to get the most out of your subscription.

Contents

Overview & Eligibility

Kellogg centrally funds access for eligible members:

User Group Allocations
Clinical and Tenure-line Faculty Up to 2 subscriptions
PhD Students 1 subscription
Exempt & Non-Exempt Staff 1 subscription
Note: Microsoft Copilot Chat is free and available to all staff with a Northwestern Microsoft 365 account — no subscription needed. Access it directly at msoffice.northwestern.edu. For more information, see Copilot Chat at Northwestern. Eligibility for paid tools may expand over time.

Using the Subscription Portal

Visit kell.gg/AISubscriptions and sign in with your Kellogg credentials to request, manage, or cancel your AI tool subscriptions. For questions, contact kis@kellogg.northwestern.edu.

Switching subscriptions: Staff and PhD students may only have one active subscription at a time. To switch tools, first cancel your existing subscription through the portal. You will receive a confirmation email once the cancellation is processed, at which point you can subscribe to a different tool.

Please note: Microsoft 365 Copilot subscriptions cannot be cancelled mid-year. They renew annually each July as part of Northwestern's Microsoft contract renewal.

Choosing a Tool

We encourage staff to discuss tool selection with their supervisor before subscribing. Some teams may benefit from choosing a common tool to share workflows and build collective knowledge.

All tools support common tasks such as drafting, summarizing, brainstorming, and document analysis. The differences come down to strengths and how they fit into your workflow:

  Microsoft Copilot Chat Microsoft 365 Copilot ChatGPT Business Claude Team
Best for Everyday AI assistance for staff already in the Microsoft ecosystem In-app AI across Office 365 (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams) General business productivity. Optimized for business users. Deeper knowledge work, long-form writing & synthesis. Optimized for analysts, researchers, and developers.
Standout feature Free, secure, available now — no subscription needed Works directly within your existing Microsoft 365 apps, grounded in your NU files and communications Workspace Agents to automate multi-step workflows. Advanced Voice Mode for fluid mobile use. Projects for shared team knowledge bases and Artifacts creation (e.g., PowerPoint).
Coding support Limited Limited Yes (Codex) Yes (Claude Code)
M365 integration Chat only, no in-app features Yes — Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint Not currently Not currently
Cost* Free $18 / user / month ($213.84 / user / 1-year prorated license)** $25/user/month $25/user/month
Learn more Microsoft Copilot at NU Microsoft Copilot at NU ChatGPT Business FAQ Claude Team plan

* Centrally funded by Kellogg (per eligible member).

** New license pricing guaranteed for next year only is down from $30 / user / month this past year.

Can I subscribe to more than one tool? Eligible faculty may subscribe to up to two centrally funded tools. PhD students and staff are eligible for one funded subscription. If you are subscribed to a tool you are no longer actively using, please cancel through the portal to avoid unnecessary charges.
Can I get a premium version such as ChatGPT Pro or Claude Max? No. Kellogg provides one standard institutional license per tool. Premium individual subscriptions are not part of this program.

Subscriptions & Accounts

I already have a personal ChatGPT account. What happens to it?
Personal ChatGPT accounts and the Kellogg ChatGPT Business workspace are separate environments. When you join the Kellogg workspace you will access it using your Kellogg email. Conversations from your personal account do not automatically transfer. If you wish to retain anything from your personal account, save it before switching.

If you choose to merge your personal workspace into the Kellogg Business workspace, your personal data will move into the Business workspace and your personal workspace will be permanently deleted. This action is irreversible. For step-by-step guidance, see Managing workspace lifecycle and migration.

I already have a personal Claude account. What happens to it?
Personal Claude accounts and the Kellogg Claude Team workspace are separate environments. When you join the Kellogg workspace you will access it using your Kellogg email. Conversations from your personal account do not automatically transfer. If you wish to retain anything from your personal account, save it before switching.

Unlike ChatGPT, Claude does not offer a workspace merge option. Your personal account and the Kellogg workspace will remain separate, and you can switch between them by signing in with the appropriate credentials.

Conversations & Data Portability

Can my conversations transfer if I switch tools or cancel my subscription?
There is no native way to export or transfer conversations across AI platforms. Each tool stores conversations within its own environment.

In both cases, conversations cannot be migrated or imported into a different AI platform.

What happens to my data when I cancel my subscription?
Once your subscription is cancelled and access is removed, you will lose access to your workspace and its contents. Please review the data retention policies for each tool before cancelling:

Usage & Limits

All AI tools have usage limits that restrict the amount of compute available within a given time period. Standard limits apply to Kellogg subscriptions. Additional credits cannot be purchased through the workspace. If you reach your limit, you will need to wait until it resets.

ChatGPT Business is designed for heavy everyday use. Limits are most often reached when high-compute modes are used inefficiently.

Understanding the modes

  • Instant: The default model, optimized for speed and general tasks. Effectively unlimited for standard use.
  • Thinking: Deeper reasoning, slower, and usage is limited. Use for complex tasks only.
  • Pro: The highest compute option. Most resource-intensive. Use sparingly and intentionally.

Recommended practices

  • Use Instant for most everyday work.
  • Use Thinking only when deeper reasoning is genuinely needed.
  • Be structured in your prompts — include objectives, constraints, and the desired format.
  • Batch edits into a single request rather than many small prompts.
  • Start new chats regularly rather than maintaining one long conversation.
  • Use advanced tools such as Deep Research, Image Generation, and Voice selectively.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Defaulting to Thinking or Pro for simple tasks.
  • Keeping one long conversation with repeated context.
  • Pasting the same content multiple times.
  • Using advanced tools for tasks that Instant handles well.

If something stops working, switch back to Instant, start a new chat, and continue normally.

Claude Team limits operate on a session-based system that resets every five hours, with an additional weekly limit that resets seven days after your session starts. Limits are most often reached by sending long, complex messages or maintaining very long conversations.

Understanding how limits work

  • Usage limits control how much you can interact with Claude over a specific time period — think of it as a conversation budget that resets on a rolling basis.
  • Standard seats offer 1.25x more usage per session than the Pro plan, with a weekly usage limit that applies across all models.
  • You can monitor your usage by navigating to Settings > Usage to view progress bars showing how much of your five-hour session and weekly limits you have consumed.

Recommended practices

  • Group multiple related questions into a single message rather than sending them separately.
  • Use Projects for recurring work. Documents uploaded to a project are cached, so referencing them repeatedly uses fewer messages than re-uploading each time.
  • Start new chats regularly rather than maintaining one very long conversation — Claude re-reads the entire conversation history with each message.
  • Be specific and structured in your prompts — include your objectives, constraints, and desired format upfront to reduce back-and-forth.
  • Use extended thinking and complex reasoning modes intentionally, not by default.
  • Batch related edits and questions into a single message.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Keeping one very long conversation — the longer it gets, the more tokens each new message consumes.
  • Pasting the same content or documents repeatedly instead of using Projects.
  • Using high-compute features for simple tasks that a straightforward prompt would handle.
  • Sending many small iterative messages instead of one well-structured request.

For more information, see Claude usage limit best practices.

Data & Privacy

As with any digital tool, responsible use remains important. Please do not enter confidential student information or regulated research data into these tools, and review AI-generated outputs carefully before using them in teaching or research. While Kellogg's versions of ChatGPT and Claude do not train on your inputs, confidential student information and regulated research data should still not be entered.

For additional guidance, review the Northwestern University Policy on the Use of Generative AI.

Support