Frequently Asked Questions

No. If assigned or incentivized with extra credit, students only need to take AI Essentials once, and faculty members and instructors will be able to see which students have and have not completed the course through Course Insights. If it is preferred, faculty can access and integrate Course Insights within Canvas, and information is available in the Course Insights Resource Hub.

Generative AI requires significant computing power, and behind every AI prompt is a physical infrastructure of servers, cooling systems, and hardware. While individual uses may seem small, the cumulative impact of millions of users adds up. Individuals should consider when AI adds a clear value, how they use AI, and when other tools may be more appropriate. Simple actions include using AI intentionally rather than automatically, writing fewer and more efficient prompts, batching related questions, and using traditional search tools for fact-based questions can make a difference. To help you decide, you can find comparison resources and a guide to best practices on the AI website.

Students should visit this link to manually enroll themselves in AI Essentials and provide the following code: WKSW-6GAE-Y344.

All students enrolled in summer classes will be auto enrolled into the Canvas AI Essentials course and will see the course automatically appear in their Canvas dashboard.

Advancing AI and remaining a responsible steward of the environment both continue to be institutional priorities for the university. As a land-grant research university, Penn State is leaning in to AI through human-centered innovation, ethical leadership, and literacy and lifelong learning for students and employees, while simultaneously continuing its commitment to sustainability through efforts like the Sustainable Labs Program and support for resilient communities across Pennsylvania. By focusing on both, Penn State aims to lead in technological transformation without losing sight of its broader public mission.

As AI use grows, so does its environmental impacts—including increased energy demand, greenhouse gas emissions, and water consumption—which affects our footprint. Part of the university’s AI work must include investing in the research—such as a new software developed at Penn State that helps cut cooling energy—that can contribute to reducing AI’s environmental footprint from energy to water usage.

Through the AI Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning, faculty will have access to professional development and collaborative opportunities to integrate AI into teaching in ways that align with disciplinary needs and University expectations. The AI Essentials course includes information about AI use in courses and assignments. Stay tuned for additional updates about these opportunities and resources. Educators can find the basic academic integrity syllabus statement recommended by the Faculty Senate on the Faculty Senate Syllabus Requirements webpage. They can find additional language to support a variety of policies/instructions around students’ use of AI tools in the ‘Faculty Resources’ section of the University Academic Integrity Resources webpage. Educators can also find helpful information in the Academic Integrity FAQ for Educators.

The framework establishes a shared foundation for how the University approaches AI education and use. The framework articulates what it means to be AI literate at Penn State and provides common reference points for learning, teaching, research and administrative practice across the institution.

What it is:

• A University wide framework describing core AI literacy competencies for students
• A shared baseline so students receive consistent messaging across courses
• Support for faculty judgment about AI use in teaching and learning
• Optional resources that can be used as-is or adapted

What it isn’t:

• A requirement for faculty to use AI tools in courses
• A policy dictating assignment design
• A replacement for academic freedom or disciplinary expertise
• A one-size-fits-all approach

We encourage faculty and instructors to explore the modules and complete the course this summer in order to be prepared to support student learning once students have access to the course this summer and fall.

AI is becoming more integrated into everyday life from digital assistants and online searches to health care, research and education. Alongside the opportunities it brings, AI raises important sustainability questions. AI systems rely on advanced computing hardware, often concentrated in specialized facilities called data centers that consume tremendous amounts of energy for power and cooling. Many data centers make use of water for their cooling systems. The growing demand for AI has environmental impacts related to energy use, water consumption, materials and land use. AI also has the potential to help support sustainability efforts through climate modeling and resource management, as examples. Understanding these tradeoffs is an important part of AI literacy and highlights why responsible, informed use of AI technologies should be part of ongoing discussions about their role in education, research, and society.

AI literacy means understanding how AI works, how and when to use it responsibly, and how to think critically about its impact in the classroom, the lab, the workplace, and the community at large. Penn State’s vision for AI is human-centered: to prepare students, faculty, and staff to use AI thoughtfully, ethically, and effectively in learning, work, and research. The University is investing in AI literacy, teaching and learning innovation, research, infrastructure, and responsible leadership so Penn Staters can thrive in an AI-shaped world.

Higher education and research institutions are uniquely positioned to address AI sustainability challenges. By harnessing interdisciplinary expertise, research, teaching, and innovation, universities can not only better understand these challenges, but develop proactive solutions. For example, at Penn State there are four research centers dedicated to AI, including the Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence, which studies responsible ways to build, deploy, and use AI technologies.

The AI Essentials course is available in the Learning Resource Network for employees and in Canvas for students enrolled in summer classes. In fall 2026, all students will have access to the course.

All Penn Staters are strongly encouraged to complete the AI Essentials course, which does not require the use of AI. While the AI Essentials course will not be required by the University, some units and/or instructors may choose to require it as part of their courses and programming. The self-paced course will provide employees and students with an opportunity to build AI literacy through technical knowledge, ethics, critical thinking, and practical applications. University faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to complete AI Essentials to expand their own foundational AI literacy and so they can help support students’ learning journeys. Employees can access the course through the Learning Resource Network, and students enrolled in summer classes will be able to access the course through Canvas. In fall 2026, all students will have access to the course.

Penn State’s literacy program aims for every undergraduate student to receive foundational AI literacy education and for all faculty and staff to participate in literacy opportunities such as the AI Essentials course. While the AI Essentials course will not be required by the University, some units and/or instructors may choose to require it as part of their courses and programming. Requirements may vary by program or role, but the goal is consistent University-wide access and alignment. AI Essentials will be foundational to future AI literacy offerings that are more advanced and/or role or discipline specific.

Your personal information is not used to train AI Studio or its underlying AI models. Automated tools may analyze anonymized content to identify common themes and usage patterns. Anonymous, aggregated metrics are analyzed to support reliability and continuous improvement.

Penn State IT staff do not actively monitor your individual prompts or conversations. Your individual prompts and conversations are not provided to others, including course instructors, except in a few limited circumstances related to health and safety and legal and emergency incidents (as noted in the AI Studio User Agreement or in applicable University policies such as AD96 Acceptable Use of University Information Resources). Prompts and conversations will not be provided in connection with academic integrity investigations.

Yes. The Getting Started with AI Studio quick guide introduces AI Studio, shows you how to log in and get started, and walks you through the interface so you can begin using it with confidence. The AI Studio Learning Path introduces you to AI Studio and provides an overview of AI Studio, including how to access and navigate the platform, and how to work with AI chats and agents. 

All chat data will be retained for a period of one year to align with the University’s General Records Retention policy (AD35 University Archives and Records Management).

Yes. AI Studio provides a secure environment for protecting individuals’ prompts and conversations, as well as University data. Specifically, users can enter Level 1 (Low) and Level 2 (Moderate) data into AI Studio, but should not enter Level 3 (High) or Level 4 (Restricted) data. Prohibited data includes Personally Identifiable Information such as Social Security Numbers, protected health information, student financial information, and any high or restricted classification data. Learn more about how to use data safely with AI tools.

No. AI Studio is a Penn State-managed environment with its own governance, enabled models, knowledge-source options, and privacy controls. Learn more about Penn State’s AI service offerings and which tool may be right for your needs.

AI Studio can be used for drafting, summarizing, brainstorming, file-based question answering, knowledge-grounded workflows, and task-specific agent experiences.

In addition to AI Studio, Penn State also provides access to Microsoft CoPilot, Google Gemini and NotebookLM, and Adobe Firefly. The University is also licensing pro-level AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to those who need access to additional features beyond those provided by the University’s no-cost offerings. Stay tuned for information on availability and pricing.

AI Studio provides access to models from OpenAI (ChatGPT), Anthropic (Claude), and Google (Gemini) in a single interface, allowing users to choose the best model for their task. The platform supports research, teaching, administrative work, and creative projects bringing together chat, agents, model selection, and knowledge-grounded workflows in one place.

All AI tools approved and provided by Penn State can be valuable assistants. The right choice depends on your workflow, comfort level, and the type of tasks you need to complete. This comparison chart is a decision-tool that highlights key differences to help you choose. Tools may change over time, and all require Penn State credentials.

AI Studio will be rolled out to all students enrolled in summer classes, with full rollout to all students in fall 2026.

Penn State offers a portfolio of AI-related services such as AI Studio, Microsoft Copilot and Adobe Firefly.

Contact the IT Service Desk by submitting an online help request. In addition, you can collaborate with other AI Studio users at the AI Studio Community of Practice.

For tests, the answer is usually “no,” but the answer for both tests and quizzes varies across classes and may vary within a class. Students should consult their course syllabus and assessment instructions. If the answer is unclear, they should ask their educator before using an AI tool to support their work.

At Penn State, academic integrity is both the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest and responsible manner and a commitment by all members of the University community not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception (see Senate policy 49-20).

For students, academic integrity policies apply to the use or misuse of all tools, including those that are: university-approved, publicly available, offered by subscription, or purchased (see G-9: Academic Integrity and GCAC-805 Academic Integrity). However, when the use of AI is appropriate, academically or otherwise, students should consider using University-provided services like AI Studio because it will better protect their personal information and privacy.

Academic integrity policies do not apply to educators or administrative staff (unless they are also a student), however, other guidelines and policies around proper/improper use do apply, and educators and administrative staff should consult with the person to whom they report as needed. When the use of AI is appropriate, professionally or otherwise, educators and administrative staff should consider using University-provided services like AI Studio because it will better protect their personal information and privacy.

Please consult the Academic Integrity FAQs for Students.

Please point the student to the Academic Integrity FAQs for Students. You can find additional information in Academic Integrity FAQ for Educators. If helpful, you can also point parents and guardians to the Academic Integrity FAQs for Parents & Guardians.

The fastest way to find an answer to your question is to explore the resources on the University Academic Integrity Resources webpage. You may also contact the Academic Integrity Contact Person for the University Park College or the Commonwealth Campus providing the course instructor.

Please consult the Academic Integrity FAQ for Educators.

Members of the Penn State community are encouraged to report potential issues and concerns and/or raise questions when they learn about something that might be inconsistent with the Penn State Values.

The answer varies across classes and may vary within a class. Each class, assignment, and assessment is designed to support specific learning objectives and/or evaluate specific knowledge, skills, or abilities. Students should consult their course syllabus and assessment/assignment instructions. If the answer is unclear, they should ask their educator before using an AI tool to support their work