A lot has happened since OpenAI’s record-breaking release of ChatGPT in November of 2022 when an estimated 100 million users accessed the platform in the first two months. Since then, Microsoft has integrated the technology into the Microsoft 365 suite, Google released its own AI model called Gemini, and companies in seemingly every industry race to add AI-powered chatbots and agents to key services to avoid being left behind by competitors.
AI holds enormous potential to transform higher education and our daily lives. While it is determined how AI fits into daily work, school, and personal lives, it is important to use AI tools responsibly and keep university data safe.
AI best practices
While there are many AI tools on the market, the free version of Microsoft Copilot is IT Services’ recommended AI chat tool. To ensure university data stays private, always sign in to Microsoft Copilot with your Northeastern credentials. This ensures university data remains within our Microsoft environment and is not used to train the AI model.
Members of the university community should refrain from using third-party AI tools such as meeting recorders, note-taking tools, and writing proofreaders. Third-party AI tools can use this data to train their model and, potentially, sell the data provided to it to advertisers and others.