Exploring Yale University's AI Toolkit: A Comprehensive Guide

Yale University is at the forefront of integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into education and research. This article delves into the AI tools and resources available to Yale's students, faculty, and staff, providing a detailed overview of their capabilities, accessibility, and data security levels.

Yale's Commitment to AI

Yale University is dedicated to providing its community with cutting-edge AI resources. Whether you're looking to enhance your productivity, develop innovative solutions, or simply explore the possibilities of AI, Yale offers a diverse range of tools to meet your needs.

Navigating Yale's AI Resources

To help you get started, Yale categorizes its AI offerings into three main groups:

• Yale Provided Tools: AI solutions provided and supported by Yale University.
• Developer Tools: Advanced tools for building new AI-powered applications and experiences.
• Popular No Cost Tools: Widely used AI tools available for personal use.

Yale Provided Tools: AI Solutions for the Yale Community

These tools are specifically curated for Yale community members and offer a secure and reliable entry point into the world of generative AI.

Clarity Platform: Your Secure AI Assistant

The Clarity Platform is Yale's answer to AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. It provides access to an AI chatbot within Yale's secure infrastructure, ensuring data protection.

• Capabilities:
  • Drafting emails and reports.
  • Generating code.
  • Creating and analyzing images.
  • Summarizing documents.
• Availability: Staff, faculty, and students.
• Pricing: Free
• How to Access: Clarity Platform Chat
• Data Classification Level: High (with exceptions for ePHI; see Clarity Platform Security for details).

Copilot with Data Protection: Secure GPT-4 Integration

Copilot with Data Protection, also known as Microsoft Copilot Enterprise, offers GPT-4 and DALL·E 3 capabilities with a focus on privacy. It doesn't use your conversations for model training or share data with OpenAI, though it's not approved for high-risk data.

• Capabilities:
  • Writing emails, reports, and other text.
  • Generating images from text descriptions.
  • Extracting information from uploaded documents and images.
• Availability: Staff, faculty, and students (18+).
• Pricing: Free
• How to Access: Copilot with Data Protection (using your Yale email address).
• Data Classification Level: Moderate

Adobe Firefly: AI-Powered Image Creation

Adobe Firefly is a suite of AI tools integrated into Adobe applications, designed for creating and editing digital images.

• Capabilities:
  • Converting text descriptions into images.
  • Customizing image aspect ratio, content type, composition, styles, colors, and tone.
• Availability: Staff, faculty, and students.
• Pricing: Free (with Creative Cloud subscription).
• How to Access: Adobe Firefly (sign in with your Creative Cloud account; subscribe to Creative Cloud if needed).
• Data Classification Level: Low

Zoom AI Companion: Enhancing Your Meetings

Zoom AI Companion enhances your Zoom meeting.

• Capabilities:
  • Transcribing meetings
  • Summarizing meetings
  • Answering questions about meetings
  • Providing action items
• Availability: Staff and faculty
• Pricing: Free with your Zoom account
• How to Access: Enabled by default for everyone with a Zoom account
• Data Classification Level: High

Power BI Copilot: AI-Driven Data Insights

Power BI Copilot is integrated into the Power BI Service. It leverages generative AI to help users extract and share data insights more effectively.

• Capabilities:
  • Extracting and sharing data insights
• Availability: Staff and faculty
• Pricing: Included in Fabric Power BI premium license
• How to Access: Access to Power BI Copilot
• Data Classification Level: High

Microsoft 365 Copilot: AI Across Your Productivity Suite

Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI assistant integrated into Microsoft 365 applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, powered by GPT-4 from OpenAI.

• Capabilities:
  • Generating draft content in Word, Outlook, and Teams.
  • Analyzing data in Excel.
  • Creating presentations in PowerPoint.
  • Creating custom agents through Copilot Studio.
• Availability: Staff and faculty (18+).
• Pricing: $30 per user per month.
• How to Access: Request access to M365 Copilot.
• Data Classification Level: High

Teams Premium: Enhanced Meetings with AI

Teams Premium offers AI-powered features that enhance your experience with Microsoft Teams.

• Capabilities:
  • AI-powered assistance before, during, and after meetings.
• Availability: Staff and faculty.
• Pricing: $1.88 per user per month.
• How to Access: Request access to Teams Premium.
• Data Classification Level: High

Developer Tools: Building the Future of AI at Yale

For those looking to develop new AI tools and experiences, Yale offers a range of advanced options.

GitHub Copilot: Your AI Coding Partner

GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered coding assistant that helps developers write and understand code more efficiently.

• Capabilities:
  • Code completion and suggestions.
  • Real-time assistance within coding environments.
• Availability: Staff and faculty.
• Pricing: $19 per month.
• How to Access: Request access to GitHub Copilot.
• Data Classification Level: Moderate

Azure AI: Accessing Advanced AI Models in the Cloud

Azure AI provides access to a wide array of AI models from Microsoft, OpenAI, and other leading providers, all hosted in Microsoft's Azure cloud.

• Capabilities:
  • Building AI-powered applications using various models.
• Availability: Staff and faculty.
• Pricing: Based on usage.
• How to Access: AI request review process.
• Data Classification Level: SPA required per app.

AWS Q Business: AI-Powered Assistants for Enterprise Data

AWS Q Business allows developers to easily build AI-powered assistants with access to enterprise data, automatically selecting