Our campus recognizes the growing usefulness of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools is committed to providing our community with access to powerful AI tools. These tools can enhance learning, research, and productivity. This article outlines the recommended AI resources available to you and provides important guidelines for their use.
Recommended AI Tools
While you are welcome to use a variety of AI systems, we recommend the following Google AI tools, which are available to all students and faculty through our university's Google Workspace for Education license.
Gemini is our recommended AI tool for general use. As part of our Google Workspace for Education, you have access to Gemini for Education, which is powered by the advanced Gemini 2.5 Pro model. This provides you with a powerful AI assistant that has significantly higher usage limits than the free consumer version.
You can use Gemini to:
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Prepare for exams with personalized practice quizzes.
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Break down complex topics for better understanding.
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Brainstorm research ideas and get feedback on your writing.
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Increase engagement by tailoring content to your interests.
Note: Use of the Gemini 2.5 Pro model may be limited, but the Gemini 2.5 Flash model can be used without limits.
NotebookLM is an AI-powered research and writing assistant that is now available to all our education users. It is designed to help you with your coursework and research by allowing you to "ground" the AI in your specific course materials, including documents, slides, and other sources.
Key features of NotebookLM include:
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AI-powered assistance: Get summaries, guided lesson plans, and quizzes based on your documents.
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Audio overviews: Generate audio summaries of your notes to listen to on the go.
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Video overviews: Turn your sources into educational videos.
To enhance your virtual meetings, our campus Zoom license now includes AI Companion. This assistant is integrated directly into the Zoom interface you already use and provides features to make your meetings more productive and efficient. Learn how to use this feature in this Zoom support article.
Key features for meetings include:
- Meeting Summaries: Automatically generate a summary of your meeting, including key points and action items, without needing to record the entire session.
- Smart Recordings: If you do record, AI Companion can create smart chapters, highlights, and next steps to help you and others review the content more quickly.
- In-Meeting Questions: If you join a meeting late, you can use the AI Companion to privately ask questions and get caught up on what you missed without interrupting the discussion.
Security Recommendations
When using any AI tool, it is important to follow these security best practices:
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Be mindful of the information you share: Do not input personal or sensitive information into public AI tools unless you are certain of their data privacy policies.
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Verify information: AI models can sometimes provide inaccurate or biased information. Always critically evaluate the output and verify facts with reliable sources.
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Use strong, unique passwords: If you create accounts for third-party AI tools, use strong and unique passwords to protect your accounts.
Data Privacy and Confidentiality
It is strictly prohibited to upload sensitive or confidential university data into any non-university-managed AI tool. This includes, but is not limited to, student records, unpublished research, and other proprietary information.
The recommended tools, Gemini for Education and NotebookLM, are covered under our Google Workspace for Education Terms of Service, which includes enterprise-grade data protection. Similarly, the Zoom AI Companion also includes enterprise-grade data protection. Your data is not reviewed or used to train their AI models, and these tools support compliance with regulations like FERPA. You can confidently use these tools for your academic work, knowing your data is protected.