Week of August 31 | What's New

Release notes 4

What University IT changed in Stanford's AI services this week.

Sat, Sep 5
GPT-6 Astra enabled in Stanford ChatGPT

Astra is OpenAI's new model for complex, multi-step work such as coding, research and document creation. It is appearing for Stanford Plus and Pro users in ChatGPT on the web, on mobile and in some Codex clients. Make sure you are on the latest version; it may show only under the Work tab for now, and it is not yet available in Linux Codex clients.
Sat, Sep 5
Gemini 3.8 Flash enabled in Gemini Enterprise

The model is enabled in Stanford's Gemini Enterprise environment and is available to everyone for their tasks.
Sat, Sep 5
Autodesk Fusion connector approved for Claude

The Autodesk Fusion connector lets Claude work with a locally running Fusion session to create, modify and inspect design geometry.
Fri, Sep 4
AI API Gateway planned maintenance, September 4 to 5

A planned maintenance window ran from Friday, September 4 at 10:00 PM to Saturday, September 5 at 6:00 AM. During the window, applications and integrations that use the AI API Gateway may have been unable to process requests.

What the vendors and the wider AI world announced.

Introducing Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 (opens in a new tab)

Fable 5.1 is live on claude.ai, Claude Code and the API at about 25 percent lower cost; check your Claude for Education model picker before big jobs.

Anthropic
GPT-6 Astra: A new generation of intelligence (opens in a new tab)

OpenAI's new flagship for computer use, coding and science; Enterprise admins enable it per workspace, so do not expect it in ChatGPT Edu until UIT says so.

OpenAIThu, Sep 3
Improving GPT-5.6 Sol in ChatGPT, and GPT-5.6 Luna for free users (opens in a new tab)

Sol, the model UIT's ChatGPT Edu deck recommends for hard problems, now gives more factual and focused answers; worth re-running work it got wrong.

OpenAIThu, Sep 3
What students gain from ChatGPT and critical-thinking training (opens in a new tab)

Bocconi and OpenAI experiment: ChatGPT access raised answer quality, causal-reasoning training raised originality; a case for grading more than polish.

OpenAIMon, Aug 31

Live Technology Training classes this week and next.

Stanford AI Playground 101: Practice and Exploration (opens in a new tab)

Tuesday Sep 8, 9 am to noon, live online, $200: a beginner's three hours in the AI Playground with prompting practice; register on the class page.

StanfordSession on Tue, Sep 8
Better AI Prompts for a Better Response (opens in a new tab)

Thursday Sep 10, 9 am to noon, live online, $300: hands-on prompt engineering with ChatGPT; it repeats on Oct 21 if this date fills.

StanfordSession on Thu, Sep 10
7 Amazing Things You Can Do with Anthropic Claude (opens in a new tab)

Friday Sep 11, 1 to 4 pm, live online, $325: seven practical Claude workflows from research to document analysis, now that every SUNet ID has Claude.

StanfordSession on Fri, Sep 11

New in the AI Catalyst catalog.

A Working Introduction: ChatGPT Edu (slide deck) (opens in a new tab)

25 UIT slides on the Stanford ChatGPT Edu workspace: picking Sol, Terra or Luna, Work mode, Codex, Skills, plugins and pitfalls; Stanford sign-in to view.

StanfordAdded Fri, Sep 4
AI Fluency for Educators (Claude Academy) (opens in a new tab)

Anthropic's free course on course design and classroom practice with AI, added with AI Fluency for Students, Claude Code 101 and Introduction to Claude Cowork.

AnthropicAdded Tue, Sep 1
ChatGPT Edu Tutorial (recording) (opens in a new tab)

Recorded walkthrough of ChatGPT Edu at Stanford: the free Standard and paid Pro plans, data approvals including PHI, and the GPT-5.6 models; Stanford sign-in.

StanfordAdded Thu, Sep 3