Georgia Tech’s Office of Information Technology is strengthening official guidance around artificial intelligence (AI) and increasing controls around its use with existing Institute services.

“As new AI tools and use cases emerge, we want to ensure that the Georgia Tech community has proper guidance on how to leverage AI responsibly while being mindful of contractual, data, privacy, and cybersecurity best practices,” said Leo Howell, vice president for Information Technology and chief information officer.

The Institute has seen a significant uptick in the use of AI applications that assist in teaching, learning, research, and administrative work. This includes the use of AI plugins for meeting transcription within the Microsoft Teams and Zoom videoconferencing platforms.

All technology services and tools offered at the Institute undergo a comprehensive review, which includes a series of third-party risk assessments, privacy and security analysis, contractual negotiations, financial and technical support impact assessments, and data stewardship approvals. Georgia Tech's Generative AI Guidance for Privacy and Security highlights this process as a requirement before any tool is leveraged with protected or regulated data or integrated with existing Georgia Tech services or systems. With this in mind, OIT has disabled the use of third-party AI plugins pending a comprehensive risk review. 

To improve visibility into services that have already passed a risk review and which are still under evaluation, OIT has published a tool availability chart on its AI Standards and Guidance webpage. The chart includes meeting transcription tools that have been approved and are available for use, such as Teams Premium and Zoom AI Companion, as well as those that have not yet been approved, but are currently under review, such as Read AI and Otter.ai.  

“Our goal is to accelerate access to as many capabilities as we can to support the innovative work happening across the Institute,” Howell said. “At the same time, we must remain mindful of the risk implications that come with these technologies. By carefully evaluating each tool, we can ensure that we are balancing access with the need to protect Institute data and remain compliant with USG and Institute standards.”

As with the Institute’s official guidance on AI use, service availability will continue to evolve and expand over the next several months. To view official guidance on AI use or learn more about available generative AI tools, visit oit.gatech.edu/ai.