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Quick Links: | Article Summary | What are ChatGPT Skills? | Access and Use ChatGPT Skills | Create a ChatGPT Skill | Chico State Use Cases | Skills and GPTs | Best Practices | OpenAI Documentation |
Article Summary
This article explains how Chico State students and employees can use Skills in ChatGPT to make common, repeatable tasks more consistent. It covers what Skills are, how to find and use them, how to create your own Skill, example academic and workplace use cases, and the difference between a Skill and a custom GPT.
Skills are especially useful when you repeatedly give ChatGPT the same instructions, follow the same workflow, or want a task completed in a consistent format. Availability of Skills and sharing options may depend on your ChatGPT account, Chico State's managed ChatGPT workspace settings, and permissions assigned by workspace administrators.
What are ChatGPT Skills?
A Skill is a reusable workflow that tells ChatGPT how to perform a particular type of task. According to OpenAI, a Skill can contain instructions, examples, supporting resources, and code. A Skill can also define a sequence of steps that should be followed consistently.
Once a Skill is installed, ChatGPT can use it when the Skill is relevant to the task you are asking it to perform. This means you may not need to repeatedly provide the same detailed instructions in every conversation.
For example, instead of repeatedly telling ChatGPT how you want class notes organized, you could create a Skill that instructs ChatGPT to:
- Identify major concepts and definitions.
- Organize the information into headings and bullet points.
- Create a short review section.
- Generate practice questions from the material.
Skills are generally available for eligible ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, Healthcare, and Edu users. Features available in the Chico State ChatGPT environment may depend on workspace configuration.
Access and Use ChatGPT Skills
Use the following process to find and use Skills available to your account.
- Sign in to ChatGPT using the account or workspace you normally use for Chico State.
- From the ChatGPT sidebar, select Plugins.
- Open the Skills tab in the Plugin Directory.
- Review the available Skills. Depending on your account and workspace, you may see categories such as:
- Installed
- Created by me
- Shared with me
- Shared by your workspace
- If a Skill has been shared with you, open the Skill's options menu and select Install, when available.
- Return to a ChatGPT conversation and ask ChatGPT to complete a task that matches the Skill.
- Review ChatGPT's response and verify that the output is appropriate and accurate before using or submitting it.
After a Skill is installed, ChatGPT may automatically select it when the Skill is useful for your request.
Example
If you have installed a Skill designed to turn notes into study materials, you could provide your notes and ask:
Turn these notes into a study guide for my exam. Include the important concepts, definitions, and practice questions.
ChatGPT can recognize that the installed Skill is relevant and use its predefined workflow to complete the request.
Create a ChatGPT Skill
If Skill creation is available in your Chico State ChatGPT workspace, you can create a Skill for a workflow you perform regularly.
- Open Plugins from the ChatGPT sidebar.
- Select the Skills tab.
- Select Create.
- Choose an available creation method:
- Create with chat: Describe what you want the Skill to do and work with ChatGPT to develop it.
- Create with editor: Build and manage the Skill directly in the Skills editor.
- Upload: Upload an existing Skill from your computer.
- Describe the task, expected workflow, and desired output as specifically as possible.
- Include examples when they will help ChatGPT understand what a successful result should look like.
- Test the Skill with several different prompts.
- Refine the instructions if the Skill does not consistently produce the expected results.
- Install or save the Skill as prompted.
- If permitted by Chico State's workspace settings, share the Skill with the appropriate people or groups.
Eligible accounts may also include OpenAI's skill-creator Skill. If you ask ChatGPT to create or modify a Skill, ChatGPT can use skill-creator to help develop and troubleshoot it.
Use ChatGPT Skills for Chico State Tasks
Examples for Students
- Study guide creation: Convert class notes into a consistent study guide containing concepts, definitions, summaries, and practice questions.
- Reading review: Organize notes from assigned readings into themes, questions, and key takeaways.
- Writing review: Apply a repeatable checklist to a draft for organization, clarity, grammar, citations, or other criteria specified by the student.
- Project planning: Turn an assignment description into milestones, tasks, and a proposed schedule.
- Data analysis workflow: Apply the same steps when examining datasets, documenting assumptions, checking calculations, and summarizing findings.
Examples for Faculty
- Course material formatting: Convert draft material into a consistent format for outlines, discussion prompts, or learning activities.
- Rubric-based review: Analyze material using a predefined rubric or set of review criteria.
- Accessibility review: Apply a repeatable checklist to draft content and identify areas that may require accessibility improvements.
- Activity development: Generate activity ideas using a consistent structure that includes objectives, instructions, estimated effort, and discussion questions.
Examples for Staff and Employees
- Meeting notes: Consistently organize notes into decisions, action items, owners, and follow-up items.
- Knowledge base content: Apply a department's standard structure and formatting when drafting support documentation.
- Document review: Apply an established checklist to procedures, reports, communications, or other documents.
- Recurring reports: Transform source information into a standard weekly or monthly report format.
- Project updates: Summarize status information using consistent sections for accomplishments, upcoming work, risks, and decisions.
Example Skill Request
You do not need to know how to program to begin creating a Skill. For example, you could ask ChatGPT:
Create a Skill that takes my meeting notes and produces a summary with four sections: Key Decisions, Action Items, Owners, and Follow-Up Questions. Do not invent information that is not present in my notes.
For a student workflow, you might ask:
Create a Skill that turns my class notes into a study guide. Organize the material by topic, identify key terminology, create a short summary, and finish with five practice questions. Only use information contained in the notes I provide.
Understand the Difference Between Skills and GPTs
Skills and custom GPTs can both provide reusable instructions, but they serve different purposes.
| Feature |
Skill |
Custom GPT |
| Primary purpose |
Defines a reusable workflow for completing a particular type of task. |
Creates a customized version of ChatGPT designed for a particular purpose or experience. |
| How it is used |
Can be used from a regular ChatGPT conversation when the workflow is relevant. |
Users generally open or select the GPT and then have a conversation with that customized GPT. |
| What it can contain |
Instructions, examples, supporting resources, and code. |
Instructions, conversation starters, uploaded knowledge, capabilities, apps, and supported integrations. |
| Best fit |
A repeatable process such as formatting meeting notes or creating study materials. |
A dedicated assistant or experience that users return to for a broader purpose. |
One simple way to think about the difference is: a Skill teaches ChatGPT how to perform a repeatable task, while a GPT creates a specialized ChatGPT experience.
For example, a department might have a custom GPT designed to assist with department-specific documentation. That GPT could support many different conversations and tasks. A Skill, by comparison, might specifically define the workflow for turning troubleshooting notes into a standardized knowledge base article.
Use ChatGPT Skills Responsibly
- Verify the output. A Skill makes a workflow more consistent, but it does not guarantee that ChatGPT's answers are accurate.
- Provide clear instructions. Describe the required inputs, steps, output format, and limitations when creating a Skill.
- Use examples. Examples can help a Skill consistently produce the type of output you expect.
- Protect sensitive information. Consider the type of information you provide to ChatGPT and follow applicable Chico State requirements for handling university, student, employee, confidential, or restricted information.
- Follow academic expectations. Students should follow the instructions provided by their instructor regarding acceptable use of generative AI for coursework.
- Review external Skills before installing them. OpenAI recommends reviewing Skills obtained from outside your organization and making sure you trust the source. Skills can contain instructions, supporting files, and code.
- Test before sharing. Try different examples and edge cases before sharing a Skill with classmates or coworkers.
Find More Information in OpenAI Documentation
For additional information about Skills and GPTs, see the following official OpenAI resources:
OpenAI regularly updates ChatGPT features and interface options. If the options displayed in ChatGPT differ from the steps in this article, refer to the current OpenAI documentation and the features enabled for your Chico State workspace.
Still need help? Open a ChatGPT Support ticket for further troubleshooting.
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