Working with AI

 

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.

Image of woman working

Quick Links

 

The Chancellor's Office and SF State are currently drafting generative AI guidelines. These guidelines will include information security, branding, and copyright. Please review the links below on these topics at SF State.

 

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

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.

 

Understanding Microsoft Copilot Options Copilot with Commercial Data Protection Copilot for Microsoft 365
GPT Large Language Model Yes Yes
Web Grounding (AI-powered Web Search, Answers & Content Generation) Yes Yes
Commercial Data Protection Yes Yes
Enterprise-Grade Data Protection   Yes
Microsoft 365 Graph Grounding (Organization Content & Context)   Yes
Integration with Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote   Yes
Licensing 

Provided by Existing SF State License

$30/user/month

 

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.

BuyIT logo for Buying IT equipment and software

University staff can leverage Copilot in various ways to enhance their productivity and efficiency at work. Here are some key uses:

  1. Content Creation: Copilot can help generate reports, presentations, and other documents quickly. It can also assist in drafting emails and other communications.
  2. Data Analysis: Staff can use Copilot to analyze and compare data, create visualizations, and generate insights from large datasets.
  3. Research Assistance: Copilot can help summarize reports, find relevant research articles, and even assist in writing reviews.
  4. Learning and Development: It can provide tutorials, answer questions about new software or tools, and help staff learn new skills.
  5. Meeting Preparation: Copilot can help prepare for meetings by summarizing previous discussions, organizing agendas, and highlighting key points.
  6. Meeting Notes: Copilot, when used with Microsoft Teams, can record and summarize meeting discussions and provide meeting minutes to share.

 

The CSU offers free training and a credential for generative AI: https://genai.calstate.edu/online-courses.