Utah Tech University

Artificial Intelligence

Approved AI Tools

Utah Tech provides all faculty, staff, and students with zero-cost access to university-secured versions of Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and Zoom AI Companion. To ensure contractual data protections are active and keep institutional information safe, always sign in with your @utahtech.edu credentials before inputting university data.

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot Chat

Visit Microsoft Copilot

How to log in using your UT account

Features

  • Available to faculty, staff, and eligible students when signed in with UT account—at no additional cost—via web browser and the Microsoft Edge sidebar.
  • Provides secure, ad‑free AI assistance for brainstorming, drafting, summarizing webpages, and creating images (with daily limits).
  • Prompts and responses are protected under Microsoft’s enterprise data protection, and they aren’t used to train foundation models.
  • Note: This offering does not include the Copilot features inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, or Teams (you’ll need an enhanced license, which comes at an additional cost. If you’re interested in these expanded features, please contact the IT department to learn more or request access.).

Examples & More

Learn about Copilot Prompts – Microsoft Support
Copilot Prompt Gallery – Microsoft (requires sign-in)
Ideas for Using AI and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat – Cornell University
Free, secure AI chat for work – Microsoft

Google Gemini

Google Gemini

Visit Google Gemini

How to log in to Gemini with UT account

Features

  • Gemini Apps: Access to the Gemini web app with enterprise-grade data protection (data is not used to train AI models).
  • Core AI Capabilities: The ability to research, brainstorm, and create content with Gemini, including features like “Gems” for building custom AI assistants and “Gemini Canvas” for a creative workspace.
  • NotebookLM: An AI-powered research and writing tool.
  • Deep Research: Limited access to a tool that browses and analyzes websites to create comprehensive reports.
  • Audio Overviews: The ability to convert documents into a podcast-like audio format for on-the-go learning, with a monthly usage limit.
  • Available for extra cost with Gemini Education/Education Premium (expanded usage limits, integration with Docs, Slides, and Sheets, expanded access to premium Ai models, Advanced Google Meet features, enhanced data loss prevention)

Examples & More

Using Gemini for Google Workspace in Higher Education
NotebookLM – Personalized AI Research Assistant
NotebookLM Demo – Google Cloud
Google AI Studio – Kevin Stratvert
End of Tutorials? – Kevin Stratvert

Zoom AI

Zoom AI Companion

Visit the UT Zoom portal

How to log in to Zoom with UT account

Features

  • Meeting Summary: This feature generates a high-level summary of the meeting, including key points, decisions, and next steps. The host can then review, edit, and share the summary with participants. This feature also works for in-person meetings with the Voice Recorder.
  • In-Meeting Questions: Participants can ask questions about the meeting’s content without interrupting the flow. The AI Companion can provide answers to questions like “Catch me up,” “What are the action items?”, or specific questions about what was said.
  • Smart Recording: This tool enhances cloud recordings by automatically organizing them into chapters, highlighting key takeaways, and identifying next steps. It can also provide hosts with analytics on conversation metrics, such as talk speed and talk-listen ratio.
  • Whiteboard Content Generation: The AI Companion can generate content for Zoom Whiteboards, such as shapes, diagrams, and text, to help with brainstorming and visual collaboration.

Examples & More

Getting Started with Zoom AI Companion
Examples by Role
More about the AI Companion

ChatGPT Business (Additional Cost)

https://chatgpt.com/business/business-plan

If you choose to use OpenAI tools like ChatGPT, access is provided through university licensing rather than individual subscriptions. To ensure contractual data protections—fully vetted by IT and the Office of General Counsel—are active and keep institutional information safe, always sign in with your @utahtech.edu credentials before processing university data.

To get started, message Craig Southwick in the IT department directly to be added to the university’s Team organization.

Features

  • A shared workspace managed by the university, with centralized billing and admin controls handled by IT
  • Stronger data privacy — OpenAI does not train its models on workspace data by default, unlike a personal free or Plus account
  • Access to OpenAI’s most capable models, including advanced reasoning models for complex tasks and faster models for everyday use
  • Built-in security and compliance protections, which IT and the Office of General Counsel have already reviewed
  • Deep Research — lets ChatGPT investigate complex questions in depth across multiple steps, rather than a single quick answer
  • Study Mode — turns ChatGPT into a guided tutor that asks questions and provides hints instead of direct answers, tailoring explanations to the user

Examples & More

GenAI Chatbot Prompt Library for Educators
56 Game-Changing AI Prompts for Teachers
Teaching with AI – OpenAI
Use Cases for University Educators – OpenAI

Claude Team Plan (Additional Cost)

https://claude.ai/settings/billing?action=subscribe

If you choose to use Claude by Anthropic, access is provided through the university’s Claude Team organization rather than individual subscriptions. To ensure contractual data protections—fully vetted by IT—are active and keep institutional information safe, always sign in with your @utahtech.edu credentials before processing university data.

To get started, message Craig Southwick in the IT department directly to be added to the university’s Team organization.”

Features

  • More usage than the free version, so you won’t hit limits as quickly
  • Access to Claude’s most capable models
  • The ability to work with long documents — up to about 500 pages in a single conversation
  • Stronger data privacy — under the university’s plan, your conversations are not used to train Claude’s models, unlike a personal free account
  • Projects, a way to keep ongoing work (like a class or department initiative) organized in one place
  • Cowork (currently in beta), which lets you hand off multi-step tasks to Claude and have it work on them for you
  • Claude Code, for staff who write code and want help directly in their workflow

Examples & More

Anthropic’s Prompt Engineering Walkthrough
Prompt Library for Claude Code
Claude for Higher Education
Anthropic Education Report: How educators use Claude – Aug. 2025

AI Note-Taking Policy

The only approved AI meeting assistants at Utah Tech are

  1. Zoom AI Companion, included in our Zoom license.
  2. Microsoft 365 Copilot (Paid Add-on to Copilot Chat license)

Other tools (e.g., Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai) are not authorized due to lack of vetted data protections. We understand many are exploring these tools, but without formal agreements in place, they pose a risk to institutional privacy and compliance.

Specialty AI Tools

While not comprehensive, the following categories showcase popular AI tools designed for specific, high-impact tasks.

Text-to-Image Tools

  • DALL·E 3 (OpenAI) – Known for producing high-quality, coherent images from complex prompts and integrating well with ChatGPT.
  • Stable Diffusion (Stability AI) – An open-source model with huge customization potential, widely adopted by developers and hobbyists.
  • Adobe Firefly – Integrated into Adobe Creative Cloud apps; optimized for commercial-safe images.

Text-to-Video Tools

Text-to-Speech Tools

  • ElevenLabs – Best-in-class realism, expressive voice tags, robust cloning
  • Lovo.ai – Emotional delivery, multilingual support, accessible tiers
  • Voice.ai / Murf – Studio-grade quality, rich voice libraries, developer-friendly

Coding/App Development

  • GitHub Copilot – widely adopted and excels at real-time code assistance across many environments
  • Cursor (AI-powered IDE) – offers a fully AI-enhanced IDE experience with strong privacy and automation features
  • Claude Opus (Anthropic) – delivers exceptional coding reasoning and performance, especially on difficult, long-duration challenges

Teaching & Learning Tools

Glossary of AI Terms

Click to View Glossary of AI Terms
  • Agentic (AI): A type of artificial intelligence that can set goals, make decisions, and take actions on its own to get things done, without needing constant human control.
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI): Computer systems performing tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as understanding language, recognizing patterns, or making decisions.
  • Bias: Systematic, unfair patterns in AI outputs that arise from flawed or unrepresentative training data.
  • Chat: Interactive, text-based conversations with AI systems to get answers, ideas, or help with tasks.
  • Generative AI: AI systems that create new content—such as text, images, music, or code—by learning from existing data.
  • Hallucination: When AI generates outputs that sound plausible but are factually incorrect or invented.
  • Large Language Model (LLM): An advanced type of neural network trained on vast amounts of text data to understand and generate human language (e.g., ChatGPT).
  • Machine Learning (ML): A branch of AI that enables computers to learn from data and improve over time without explicit programming.
  • Model: The trained AI system or algorithm that produces outputs (answers, predictions, content) from inputs.
  • Neural Network: A computational model inspired by the human brain’s structure, used to recognize complex patterns in data.
  • Open-source vs. Proprietary Models: Open-source models are freely available to use and modify, while proprietary models are owned and licensed by companies.
  • Prompt: The user’s input or instruction that guides the AI’s response.
  • Prompt Engineering: Crafting clear, effective prompts to get better results from AI tools. Learn more in this guide.
  • Training Data: The information used to teach AI models how to perform specific tasks by showing them patterns and examples.
  • Vibe Coding: an intuitive, exploratory approach to programming that emphasizes creativity and rapid prototyping over structured planning.

University Guidelines for Responsible Use of AI Tools

Purpose and Scope

These guidelines establish expectations for the responsible use of generative AI technologies in academic work and university operations. They apply to all students, faculty, and staff, and are designed to uphold academic integrity, data privacy, and critical thinking as core pillars of our institution’s mission.

1. Responsible Handling of Sensitive Data

Sensitive data must not be input into public or commercial AI tools unless the vendor is under university-approved contractual agreement (e.g., Microsoft, Google Workspace, or licensed ChatGPT accounts). Users must be properly logged in and ensure data shared is compliant with university data privacy rules and properly anonymized or non-sensitive.

Sensitive data must never be input into public or commercial AI tools. This includes Protected Health Information (PHI), Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and FERPA-protected student records. Users must ensure all data shared with AI tools is properly anonymized or non-sensitive.

2. Author Responsibility and Review of AI Outputs

Authors are fully responsible for verifying the accuracy and originality of any AI-assisted content. All AI-generated materials must be carefully reviewed for factual errors, bias, stereotyping, inaccuracies, hallucinations, plagiarism, and copyright issues.

AI Tips and Tricks

Understand Your Use Case First

Clearly understanding your use case helps you avoid wasted time and get more effective, targeted results from AI.

  • Define your goal clearly. Are you writing, summarizing, brainstorming, coding, or researching?
  • Choose the right AI tool. Some specialize in text, others in images, audio, or code.

Write Clear and Specific Prompts
  • Avoid vague instructions. Use specific questions or scenarios.
  • Break complex tasks into steps. Start with an outline if needed.
  • Prompt Recipe: Task + Context + Tone

Experiment with Prompt Variations
  • Test different phrasings or orders of information.
  • Use role-based prompts like “Act as a…”
  • Iterate. Ask for revisions or expansions.

Restart When the AI Gets Stuck
  • Start a new session to avoid repetition or bias from previous prompts.
  • Fresh chats often yield better results.

Use Structured Input When Possible
  • Use bullet points or numbered lists to guide the AI.
  • Tables help clarify structure for data-related outputs.

Ask for Different Formats

Examples of useful formats:

  • Summaries
  • Lists
  • FAQs
  • Stories
  • Scripts
  • Emails
  • Code snippets
  • Dialogue

Example: “Summarize this in 5 bullet points” or “Write this as an email.”

Leverage AI for Idea Generation
  • Brainstorm blog topics, titles, or questions.
  • Ask for alternate angles or endings to content.
  • Generate product, business, or character names.

Use AI for Research and Summarization
  • Summarize long articles, documents, or web pages.
  • Extract key points for quick reference.
  • Generate citations (and always verify them).

Note: AI can hallucinate. Always verify critical facts.

Give Feedback in the Conversation
  • Ask for changes in tone, formality, or structure.
  • Request translations or simplifications.
  • Use the back-and-forth as a collaborative edit session.

Keep Privacy in Mind
  • Avoid entering personal, sensitive, or confidential data – use only approved AI tools that maintain privacy and data security
  • Review your tool’s data policies before sharing information.

Learn the Limits of AI
  • AI can be inaccurate or biased.
  • It lacks reasoning and real-world awareness.
  • It should assist, not replace, human judgment.

Advanced Prompting Techniques
  • Few-shot prompting: Give examples to guide output.
  • Chain-of-thought: Ask AI to explain its reasoning step-by-step.
  • System instructions: Define the AI’s role or behavior for the session.

For Coders
  • Ask for code explanations, refactors, or fixes.
  • Use AI to generate or review code snippets.
  • Test and verify AI-generated code before use.

For Teachers and Students
  • Create lesson plans, quizzes, or summaries.
  • Translate, adapt, or clarify content.
  • Brainstorm essay ideas or improve drafts.

Keep Practicing and Learning
  • Keep a log of your best prompts and outcomes.
  • Learn from others and share your own techniques.
  • Stay current with tool updates and capabilities.

UT Resources

Explore Utah Tech’s collection of guidelines, training, and resources for using AI tools in teaching and learning: