At SMU, we believe that great things happen when passionate people can willingly explore new technologies together. Over the past year, I’m proud to say that SMU has made tremendous strides in our community understanding and applications of Generative AI in ways that serve our teaching, our research, and the everyday work we do to support students. Since last May’s launch of the SMU Generative AI Coalition of the Willing, many SMU faculty and staff have stepped forward—not because they were told to, but because they were curious, committed, and courageous. Continue reading Pioneering with Purpose: SMU’s Unique Generative AI Coalition of the Willing
Author: Jason Warner
Associate CIO, Academic Technology Services
Zoom AI Companion at SMU: What You Need to Know
Soon, OIT will be introducing AI features in Zoom. In this post, we want to take a moment to share how you can use Zoom AI Companion responsibly and in alignment with Southern Methodist University policies.
The Zoom AI Companion features are automatically off and must be enabled by the Zoom user. Do not enable/use Zoom AI Companion in meetings where protected or sensitive categories of information will be shared/discussed.
It is critical to manage your Zoom meeting settings appropriately. Here are a few key points to keep in mind: Continue reading Zoom AI Companion at SMU: What You Need to Know
Overleaf Editor Simplifies Writing LaTeX
Great news! The Office of Information Technology and Faculty Technology Council are excited to announce that SMU has licensed Overleaf Professional, now available to all students, faculty, and staff. Overleaf is a powerful tool designed to enhance your scholarly research, writing, and publishing workflows, and it’s here to support your academic and research endeavors. Continue reading Overleaf Editor Simplifies Writing LaTeX
Using Generative AI Meeting Summary Technologies at SMU: Some Do’s and Don’ts
As part of OIT’s continuous efforts to enhance our community’s virtual meeting experiences, we are excited to announce the recent activation of Zoom’s AI Companion tool at SMU, a tool that offers meeting hosts the ability to generate an AI-generated meeting summary based on the transcript of any meeting scheduled with SMU’s Zoom. This advanced tool is designed to help hosts generate AI-authored summaries of virtual meetings, ensuring that important discussions and decisions are accurately documented and easily accessible. However, OIT is witnessing an increasing use of personal, non-institutional AI summary technologies; we want to remind our community that it is essential that, while at work, we must all adhere to safe practices that respect all participants’ privacy. Here are some key do’s and don’ts to keep in mind. Continue reading Using Generative AI Meeting Summary Technologies at SMU: Some Do’s and Don’ts
Changes to Turnitin AI Detection Tool at SMU
As we constantly adapt to the changes in educational technologies, we have an important update regarding our use of the Turnitin anti-plagiarism tool. Since last year, SMU has been participating in a beta trial of Turnitin’s AI-based anti-plagiarism detection tool. However, as of December 31, 2023, SMU’s temporary license will expire for this specific function of Turnitin due to its extremely limited success and negative track-record. Continue reading Changes to Turnitin AI Detection Tool at SMU
