The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is believed to be one of the first universities to offer custom artificial intelligence services to its entire community with the launch of a new AI platform this week.
The new suite of generative AI tools was developed by U-M’s Information & Technology Services (ITS) and is being rolled out in tandem with the start of the fall semester.
The ITS AI Services have several key differentiators from most other generative AI tools like ChatGPT, which charges a monthly subscription for increased usage limits. For most services, U-M will initially be providing no-cost levels of access with extended usage limits for students, faculty, and staff.
U-M’s AI platform also has been designed and tested for accessibility. U-M’s GPT service works with screen-readers, which do not work with other AI tools like ChatGPT. In addition, all data shared with U-M’s AI services is private and will not be used to train AI models.
ITS collaborated with Microsoft to create the new AI platform. U-M is initially launching three AI services that will be available to the university communities in Ann Arbor, Flint, Dearborn, and Michigan Medicine. The services launched this week and can be found at genai.umich.edu.
“We passionately believe that everyone at U-M should have access to the most powerful technology tools available,” says Ravi Pendse, vice president for IT and chief information officer at U-M. “At the core of our GenAI services is the commitment to provide tools and technologies that enhance, support, and augment humanity.”
The first new service, U-M GPT, lets users engage with popular GenAI models like ChatGPT and other large language models. U-M GPT will initially be provided at no cost to the U-M community in honor of the launch of the platform.
U-M Maizey, University of Michigan-Flint’s chatbot and text messaging system, will allow U-M users to access AI language models to query and question their own datasets. This tool can connect to popular platforms like Google and Canvas (Dropbox coming soon), allowing it to extract insights from user data.
The final of the initial AI offerings, U-M GPT Toolkit, will provide a platform to construct, train, and host AI models securely and at scale. Optimized for advanced AI designers, Toolkit offers a platform where users can tailor solutions to meet a variety of needs.
The AI platform has been approved for use with moderate sensitive data upon its release. Currently, using data above a moderate-sensitivity classification (including protected health information) is not allowed. However, ITS is working to expand the data types that may be used within the GenAI tools in the coming months.
“Generative AI is here to stay,” said Robert Jones, executive director of support services for ITS, who led the development team for the new AI platform. “U-M is taking this opportunity to lead the discussion and help show higher ed and the rest of our global community how you can provide fair, responsible, and forward-thinking access to this kind of technology for an entire community. I am excited to see what everyone at U-M can create with these tools at their disposal.”
