As employees of SF State, working with AI offers an exciting opportunity to enhance administrative efficiency and educational outcomes. With access to advanced tools like Copilot, we can streamline our workflows, automate routine tasks, and gain valuable insights into data. But it also carries risks for which users must be aware as they seek to integrate AI into their work.
By familiarizing ourselves with these tools and engaging in campus training and resources, we can contribute to SF State's mission of fostering innovation and excellence.
The Chancellor's Office and SF State are currently drafting generative AI guidelines. The SF State guidelines are currently in the 30-day review period hosted by Quality Assurance. University constituents are invited to review and comment using the Quality Assurance feedback process.
In addition to the guidelines, output from generative artificial intelligence used in public-facing communications should also adhere to SF State branding and editorial guidelines.
Copyright
Copilot uses Microsoft's Azure OpenAI service. OpenAI also provides DALL-E image services to Copilot and confirms that the user owns the rights to reprint, sell, and merchandise the output.
Microsoft commits to protecting its users from third-party IP lawsuits stemming from AI training.
This section will be updated as more information becomes available.
SF State is committed to the responsible and effective use of generative artificial intelligence (genAI). To better prepare campus programming, training and resources, we want to hear from you, whether or not you use genAI.
The survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete. Please share your honest thoughts.
Copilot
Every SF State staff, student, and faculty member has an existing license for Copilot, which comes with SF State's Microsoft 365, which includes commercial data protection. Copilot uses OpenAI ChatGPT-4 and DALL-E to generate text and images.
| Understanding Microsoft Copilot Options | |
|---|---|
| GPT Large Language Model | Yes |
| Web Grounding (AI-powered Web Search, Answers & Content Generation) | Yes |
| Enterprise Data Protection | Yes |
AI included within other university-supported tools
- Adobe Firefly
- Adobe Express
- Dall-E via Copilot Web
- Stable Diffusion via Copilot Web
- Zoom AI features
Free-to-use AI Tools
- Free CoPilot (outside of SF State licensed and secure 365 version above)
- Google Gemini
- ChatGPT (prompt-based text generator)
- Bing (prompt-based text generator and search results)
- Grammarly (AI writing assist)
- Canva (AI add-on to image creation and editing)
Note: Results may vary. Any information shared with free AI tools is not confidential, and sharing SF State PII or other confidential data could result in a data security failure.
Purchasing AI tools for campus follows the same process as other technology acquisitions. Please see the BuyIT.sfsu.edu site for more information.
Every member of the campus community has an existing license for CoPilot that comes with SF State's Microsoft 365 that includes commercial data protection.
University staff can leverage Copilot in various ways to enhance their productivity and efficiency at work. Here are some key uses:
- Content Creation: Copilot can help generate reports, presentations, and other documents quickly. It can also assist in drafting emails and other communications.
- Data Analysis: Staff can use Copilot to analyze and compare data, create visualizations, and generate insights from large datasets.
- Research Assistance: Copilot can help summarize reports, find relevant research articles, and even assist in writing reviews.
- Learning and Development: It can provide tutorials, answer questions about new software or tools, and help staff learn new skills.
- Meeting Preparation: Copilot can help prepare for meetings by summarizing previous discussions, organizing agendas, and highlighting key points.
- Meeting Notes: Copilot, when used with Microsoft Teams, can record and summarize meeting discussions and provide meeting minutes to share.
Systemwide Generative AI Resources
The CSU offers free training and a credential for generative AI: https://genai.calstate.edu/online-courses.