Hi everyone,
I’m a university student invited by my professor to join a ChatGPT for Academic Researchers workspace as a collaborator.
When I open the invitation, select Student, and click Continue to verification, no verification tab opens. The page displays:
We couldn’t start verification. Contact support if you think this is a mistake.
In browser DevTools, the request fails with:
POST /backend-api/sophia/create_verification
HTTP 409 Conflict
{"detail":"Verification creation is already in progress"}
I’ve tried:
- Safari and Arc on macOS.
- Allowing pop-ups for chatgpt .com.
- Refreshing and signing out and back in.
- Confirming that my current ChatGPT account email matches the invitation’s university email.
Some potentially relevant history:
- I successfully completed SheerID student verification on September 18, 2026, for the ChatGPT Back to School offer.
- My account was previously associated with a university-managed workspace that now shows as deactivated. I have also accessed my university’s ChatGPT Edu workspace.
- I don’t know whether either of these circumstances is related to the current error.
I contacted OpenAI Support and received a ticket acknowledgment, but I’m still waiting for further assistance.
Has anyone encountered this exact error and successfully resolved it? Is there a supported way to resume an existing verification, or does OpenAI need to clear a stuck verification request?
I can provide additional account and request details privately to support. Thanks for any guidance.