Introduction
Interest in AI-based tools has grown rapidly over the last months across Kellogg. Faculty, students, and staff are looking for answers to: “What tools do we have?” “What can we use?” and “Where can we get help?” This KB is a snapshot of where we are today and what is available.
The offerings are changing almost weekly. The leading providers – OpenAI, Microsoft, Google – of these services are announcing new products faster than they can deliver them. Microsoft, for example, introduced BingChat, powered by OpenAI, and renamed it to Copilot, and renamed other services to Copilot, Copilot Pro, Copilot Studio, and more, yet Microsoft has yet to license many of these to universities.
Across NU and Kellogg, multiple groups are looking at ways to best use these services in research, academics, and administrative work, as well as many individuals experimenting with the tools on their own. Expect that this will continue to grow, and over the next year, we will have standard offerings that everyone will be able to benefit from.
Guidance
Northwestern has AI@NU - an overall site for information on AI usage across the university. Resources for the use of AI in research and teaching as well as a wide variety of articles on AI practices, ethics, and a way to find others at NU working with AI.
Northwestern IT’s primary guidance on the use of Generative AI is not to use these services for any sensitive data unless it has been specifically vetted and approved by NU/Kellogg NU Policy on Generative AI). Many of these services use your input as part of their AI training – we don’t want our private information showing up in other people’s answers.
Kellogg has specific guidance for faculty wanting to use AI in their classes.
If you are looking to create a chatbot for others to use, usage costs can vary depending on which platform you use – OpenAI requires that folks interacting with your bot have pro ($20/month) accounts, whereas Microsoft charges by the interaction ($200/month for 25K message). This may change. We are working to develop a standard supportable approach for these and will provide more guidance moving forward.
All Tools
Currently Available Tools
| Service | Available to | Uses | Access | Cost |
| Microsoft Copilot (formerly BingChat) |
Faculty, Staff, and Students | To interact with OpenAI ChatGPT in a secure environment. You will also see this in the Edge browser as a sidebar on the right, so it can easily be accessed if you are using web-based Outlook or Word, etc. Uses GPT-4 model |
Must sign in with NetID | No additional cost |
| OpenAI ChatGPT | All | Good for experimenting interactively, but not for any sensitive data. Uses GPT-3.5 model | Create personal account | Free |
| OpenAI ChatGPT Plus | All | Can create and use GPTs (ie your own Chatbots), DALL-E image creator, Advanced Data Analysis. Not for sensitive data. | Create personal account | $20/month |
| OpenAI ChatGPT Team | Kellogg Tenure-Line and Clinical Faculty | Can create and use GPTs (ie your own Chatbots), DALL-E image creator, Advanced Data Analysis. Not for sensitive data. Kellogg is arranging a service for faculty to experiment with this tool | Faculty can reach out to KIS | $20/month |
| Custom LLM Apps | Faculty | To access OpenAI APIs for research purposes or developing custom Chatbots using a variety of methods and platforms. | Consultation with KIS or NUIT Research Computing and Data Services. | Varies |
Tools Available Soon (Microsoft and OpenAI make these available)
| Service | Available to | Uses | Access | Cost |
| Microsoft Copilot for M365 (formerly Microsoft Copilot Pro) |
TBD | An add on to Microsoft 365 (nee Microsoft Office) that adds AI assistants to the Microsoft suite – Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, etc. | Not yet offered by Microsoft to universities | Expected to be $30/month |
Tools Being Investigated
| Service | Available to | Uses | Access | Cost |
| Microsoft Copilot Studio | TBD | An add on to Microsoft CoPilot that enables creation of conversational agents (ie ChatBots) that can be published and used by others | Not yet offered by Microsoft to universities | Based on usage |
| Various Approaches to GPT-based chatbots | Students in Specific Courses | Faculty are experimenting with OpenAI bots using multiple methods | Varies by course | TBD |
| Zoom AI Companion | TBD | An add-on to zoom that can provide you a full summary of your meeting including a quick recap and next steps. | TBD | TBD |
The Future
Northwestern has multiple teams working to identify best practices and standard tools. KIS is working with individual faculty, the NU IT teams, and internally to experiment with creating knowledge-based bots that can be used across the school and on “toolkits” that can be used by members of our community to experiment on their own.