We're excited to see the growing interest in generative AI tools like Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, ChatGPT, and Zoom AI Companion across our campus. These tools offer exciting possibilities for enhancing our learning, teaching, and working as well as fostering innovation.

To help you explore these tools safely and effectively, we've created this guide. It provides recommendations on which tools are suitable for general use and work productivity, while ensuring the security of sensitive and confidential information.

While there are a multitude of other AI tools available, the information here is focused on the tools for which Cal Poly Humboldt is currently licensed.  These licensed versions include features such as data protection that may not be available with other products.

Helpful Notes and Guidelines:

• We encourage you to explore and experiment with these tools to better understand their capabilities before integrating them into your daily work.

• While generative AI tools are incredibly powerful, they may occasionally produce inaccurate information (often referred to as "hallucinations"). Similarly, AI transcription tools like the Zoom AI Companion might occasionally misinterpret context. We recommend reviewing transcriptions carefully before sharing them to ensure accuracy.

• We acknowledge that Generative AI tools are an emerging technology with a host of positive and negative impacts. We encourage you to learn more about this topic, practice responsible prompting to minimize AI’s carbon footprint, and promote ethical and equitable use as you consider the ways you may want to leverage this technology.

• For your security and privacy, please avoid uploading level 1 sensitive information to these AI tools unless you’ve received approval from the Information Security Office (ISO).  These AI tools are approved for use with level 2 and level 3 sensitive information. We recommend that you use our licensed tools rather than other free products which likely do not have data protection.

We’re excited to see how these tools can enhance your productivity and encourage you to explore them with these guidelines in mind!

Microsoft CoPilot

To start using Microsoft Copilot, visit the Microsoft365 Copilot website and sign in with your Cal Poly Humboldt staff, faculty, or student account. Also available as a mobile app in your device's store, and in the Edge Browser.

Gemini AI

To start using Google’s Gemini AI, visit the Google Gemini website in any web browser and sign-in with your Cal Poly Humboldt staff, faculty, or student account, or select the Gemini app from Google apps in your Gmail account.  Gemini is also available as a mobile app in your device's store.

Gemini Premium version coming soon at an additional cost - $22.50 per user/month (one year commitment) for integration in Google apps (Gmail, Google Docs, etc).

Zoom AI Companion

To start using the Zoom AI Companion for meeting notes and real-time summaries, visit Humboldt’s Zoom Portal and sign in with your Cal Poly Humboldt student, staff, or faculty account.

In the Personal nav menu on the left, choose Settings. In the Meeting menu under the AI Companion Tab you have the option to:

• Toggle on "Allow users to ask AI Companion questions about the meeting" and "Meeting summary with AI Companion" to enable the AI Zoom Companion to ask questions of meetings, transcripts, documents, or other data your Zoom account has access to. This is accessible from the Zoom Workspace app on your computer or from the star icon on the App taskbar when in a meeting.  Meeting attendees will receive a message informing them that the meeting is being transcribed by the AI companion.
• Set each section's options to your preferences.  ITS recommends setting "Share access with:" to "All participants only from when they join", as well as "Automatically share summary with:" to "Only me (meeting host) and meeting invitees in our organization".
• Please note ITS is evaluating the "AI Companion Panel in Zoom Workplace", and it is currently not enabled for our organization.

Adobe Firefly

To get started with Adobe Firefly, visit the Adobe Firefly website and log in with your Cal Poly Humboldt Student, Staff, or Faculty account, and then click on "Create with Firefly" to begin generating images from text prompts. 

Additionally, Firefly’s generative AI integrations are included in the current versions of Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Express, Lightroom, InDesign, and Illustrator. Log into the Creative Cloud app on your Humboldt computer to access or install these Adobe applications.

Our site license for Adobe grants 1000 credits per month, each generation requiring one credit.