The AI landscape is evolving rapidly, with its capabilities constantly improving and new tools being released daily. The current parameters on using Generative AI at Penn State are described below. Note that these guidelines for AI use may change as the field progresses. Ethical considerations, regulations, and guidelines surrounding Generative AI must be regularly reviewed due to its ever-evolving nature.
General Guidance
Penn State encourages safe exploration and use of generative AI tools to further our teaching, research, and service mission. Keep these guidelines in mind:
AI tools have varying levels of accessibility which can disadvantage some users. When using an AI tool for more than one user such as in a class or an administrative office, an accessibility review is needed prior to use to comply with policy AD69.
To initiate your review, send an email to accessibility@psu.edu with the name of the tool, your intended use, and the expected number of users. Below are EEAAP templates for tools that have already been reviewed. You must submit an EEAAP for your specific group use of these tools.
EEAAP Templates
NOTE: Accessibility Office approval does not mean you can use the tool for all types of information. You must still ensure that the tool is approved for the information that you’re putting in the system per the table below.
All requests for disability related accommodations must be individually evaluated in accordance with Federal law. Inquiries about student accommodations should be directed to Student Disability Resources. Inquiries about faculty and staff accommodation should be directed to the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access.
As GenAI tools become more and more prevalent, providing guidance to students has become crucial. The GenAI Use Icons is a framework to assist Penn State instructors in communicating their policies regarding GenAI utilization in coursework. It enables instructors to clearly articulate whether GenAI tools are or are not allowed for specific assignments. These icons can be used to promote transparency, ethical GenAI usage, and academic integrity among students. They are meant to be a tool to foster conversation between students and faculty as to the expectations for successful completion of assignments.
Although the University does not endorse any particular generative AI tool, employees are permitted to use generative AI tools of their choice without any review as long as only public, non-confidential data is involved in such use. These individual use cases do not require any sort of delegation or completion of the Software Request Form. If use is intended for a group and/or class, see the Accessibility Considerations guidance above for accessibility compliance.
AI tools and platforms are available based on the sensitivity of information being processed and institutional agreements with vendors that include additional protections. The tables describe the tools and platforms available for each level of information and how to obtain access.
The AI Guides Program aims to help University faculty and staff members take the first steps in learning about and using Penn State-approved AI tools like Microsoft Copilot.
The program will provide introductory-level support to help increase AI skills; guidance on crafting prompts to get the most out of AI tools; one-on-one consultations; brainstorming and strategy sessions to enhance teaching, learning and workplace tasks; tips and best practices; opportunities to explore AI content generation and creating AI assistants; and techniques to validate AI-generated content for accuracy and reliability.
The soft launch of the program will run from Feb. 2 through May 29, 2026.
Click to visit the Penn State IT website and request a consultation.
This category of tools includes “chatbots” and AI assistants for general use and productivity. They are designed to understand and generate human-like responses to text-based, natural language prompts. They can generate text, code, and images, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, or integrate with productivity and collaboration tools.
Information levels refer to Penn State’s information classification types (Level 1-4).
| Tool | Information Allowed and Prohibited | Availability | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise) | Level 1 and 2: allowed Level 3 and 4: prohibited | Available to faculty, staff, and students (over 18 years of age) | ||
| ($) Microsoft Copilot for M365 integrated with M365 Tools (Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc) | Level 1 and 2: allowed Level 3 and 4: prohibited | Purchase through Software@Penn State catalog | ||
| All other general AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.) | Public, non-confidential information: allowed Information NOT public or confidential: request via Software Request Form | Free or purchased NOTE: Consider using already purchased tools such as Microsoft Copilot before purchasing other tools |
($) Purchase required
This category of tools includes API access to enable developers to integrate Large Language Models (LLMs) into their own applications, products, or services. This includes chatbot creation and customization, building and testing applications, access to model training and deployment, coding, predictive analytics, and more. Code and low/no-code offerings are available. These tools are subject to change based on availability.
| Platform | Description | Information Allowed and Prohibited | Requesting Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| ($) Azure AI | Build generative AI models from Azure OpenAI Service, Falcon, Stable Diffusion and Meta. | Level 1 and 2: allowed Level 3: allowed with approved Secure Enclave request) Level 4: prohibited | Faculty and staff may request a cloud provider account via ServiceNow |
| ($) Amazon Bedrock | Build generative AI applications using models from AI21 Labs, Anthropic, Cohere, Meta, Mistral AI, and Stability AI. | Level 1 and 2: allowed Level 3: allowed with approved Secure Enclave request) Level 4: prohibited | Faculty and staff may request a cloud provider account via ServiceNow |
| ($) Google Vertex AI | Build generative AI applications using Google and Open Source models. https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai/generative-ai/docs/model-garden/explore-models | Level 1 and 2: allowed Level 3: allowed with approved Secure Enclave request) Level 4: prohibited | Faculty and staff may request a cloud provider account via ServiceNow |
| All other platforms | Request via Software Request Form |
We welcome questions or comments at aihub@psu.edu
