Category: Past News

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign enabled the Zoom AI Companion for all users on Dec. 20, 2024. The tool includes features like meeting summaries, in-meeting queries and smart recordings to enhance collaboration.

Key features of Zoom AI Companion

• Meeting Summary Creation: AI Companion can generate and send a summary to designated participants after the meeting. By default, only the host receives this summary.
• In-Meeting Questions: Participants can ask about previous meeting details, such as discussion summaries or mentions of individuals.
• Smart Recording: Generates highlights, smart chapters, transcriptions, next steps and meeting coach content.

These features are disabled by default and can be managed in Zoom settings at illinois.zoom.us/profile/setting.

Freedom of Information Act considerations

As a public institution, the university adheres to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which allows public access to records unless exempted. Transcripts and summaries are public records and may be subject to FOIA requests. Handle these tools with care and awareness of their implications.

Best practices

• Seek Consent: Always obtain consent from participants before enabling summarization or transcription.
• Be Informed: Familiarize yourself with the university’s FOIA policies to ensure compliance.
• Be Mindful of Content: Avoid sharing sensitive information, as it may be publicly disclosed under FOIA.

For more information on FOIA, visit the Illinois Freedom of Information Act System webpage.

For additional details, read the article about Zoom AI Companion features here.

If you have questions or concerns, email consult@illinois.edu. 

In a world rapidly reshaped by AI, the intersection of technology and education opens an incredible opportunity for growth. The LinkedIn Learning guide “Embracing AI in Education” provides a roadmap for educators, administrators, and lifelong learners to integrate AI effectively into their workflows while retaining the vital human-centric skills that AI cannot replace.

Key Takeaways from the Guide
This comprehensive guide highlights essential aspects of using AI responsibly and strategically:

Ethics and Responsible AI Use
The ethical considerations around AI are profound and expanding. By integrating courses on AI ethics, educators can guide learners in navigating the challenges AI presents, fostering an awareness of the ethical dilemmas that come with AI implementation.

Human Skills in the AI Era
Six critical skills are identified—communication, critical thinking, creativity, social intelligence, adaptability, and decision-making—as indispensable in an AI-driven landscape. By focusing on these areas, educational institutions can prepare learners to complement technology with the irreplaceable strengths that human insight provides.

AI Upskilling Paths for Organizations
With the demand for workplace skills expected to shift by 68% by 2030, “Embracing AI in Education” explores diverse AI upskilling paths designed to support various expertise levels, from understanding AI basics to deep specializations. These learning paths enable organizations to build teams proficient in understanding, applying, and building AI.

All Illinois faculty, staff, and students have access to LinkedIn learning courses via http://go.illinois.edu/lynda

Are you a researcher looking to accelerate breakthroughs, uncover hidden insights and secure competitive research funding?

Join us for an exclusive learning event “Revolutionize Your Research with Google Vertex and generative AI Exclusive Seminar for Illinois Researchers.” Google will be on campus demonstrating how Google Cloud’s Generative AI is transforming the research landscape. Learn how you can accelerate time to science, enhance collaboration and secure research grant funding with Google Cloud Vertex AI and generative AI tools available to you at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Register for one of the following sessions:

Date: October 16, 2024. 

Time: 9 – 11:30 a.m. or 1 – 2:30 p.m.

Location: National Center for Supercomputing Applications. 1205 W Clark Street, Urbana, IL 61801.

RSVP: Morning Session

RSVP: Afternoon Session

This event is in collaboration with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Generative AI Solutions Hub and Office of the CIO.

Members of the Generative AI Solutions Hub formed working groups focused on research, teaching and learning, and administrative operations in late January 2024. Their first charge was delivering a list of high-level use cases for generative AI in the respective domains by March 1. Below is a summary of their work, followed by the identification of next steps recommended by the Generative AI Solutions Hub.

Download the report here.

If you’re interested in contributing to or learning from conversation about generative AI in teaching & learning or research, there are two virtual spaces on Microsoft Teams that are open to an UIUC faculty or staff. The Generative AI Solutions Hub serves in a supporting and engaging role to these adjacent virtual communities.

Generative AI in Education Community (on Microsoft Teams)
A open community of UIUC educators exploring and sharing experiences using generative AI in teaching and learning.

Generative AI in Research Community (on Microsoft Teams)
A open community of UIUC faculty and staff exploring and sharing experiences using generative AI in research.

Between December 5, 2023, and January 8, 2024, the Generative AI Solutions Hub conducted a campus-wide survey of faculty and staff to assess their familiarity and use of generative AI. With over 1,100 responses, including 21% faculty and 72% staff, we have gathered valuable insights into the current state of generative AI on our campus.

Overall, familiarity with generative AI was distributed as shown below, with 26% of respondents very or extremely familiar with generative AI and only 12% of respondents who were not familiar at all with this emergent technology.

Nearly 35% of respondents reported use of generative AI in their work.

Of those who reported use, the level of integration trended toward minimal or no integration into daily work.

Overall, a small percentage of respondents reported moderately or highly integrated use. These responses indicate that high use or dependence on generative AI tools is nascent on our campus.

Use cases and tools. Among those who use generative AI, the following use cases were most common: writing and editing (67%), administrative tasks (57%), education and training (30%), design and creativity (27%), and coding and programming (24%). The most common tools were ChatGPT (91%), Microsoft Bing Chat/Copilot (39%), and DALL-E (20%).

Specialized faculty use. Among the survey’s 263 faculty respondents, 29% used generative AI as an instructional tool and 17% are conducting AI-related research.

Challenges. Among those who reported generative AI use, the most common challenge was lack of knowledge/skills (44%), lack of trust/confidence (42%), lack of guidance/support (33%), and ethical or social issues (27%).

Sources of education and guidance. Generative AI users are using the following sources for education and guidance: trial and error (80%), colleagues or peers (55%), and online courses/tutorials (41%).

You can view a dashboard with all the quantitative survey results (restricted to UIUC full-time staff).