Explore Approved AI Tools for Teaching, Research, and Work
UNCG is launching an enterprise AI evaluation program to help faculty and staff safely explore AI tools in a secure, supported environment. Choose the platform that best fits your needs, with ITS-funded access available during the evaluation period.
Which AI Tool Is Right for You?
The right AI solution depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. Whether you need everyday productivity assistance, advanced research support, coding help, or secure access to restricted data, UNCG offers approved options designed for different use cases.
Work Smarter Across Microsoft 365
Get help with meeting preparation, email management, document creation, data analysis, and day-to-day work across Microsoft 365.
Advanced AI for Coding, Automation, and Exploration
Ideal for users who need advanced reasoning, script generation, automation support, or specialized AI workflows.
Long-Form Analysis and Research Support
Designed for users working with large documents, research materials, reports, and complex analysis projects.
Available in Early Fall 2026
Spartan AI
UNCG’s centralized workspace for using AI to support learning, teaching, research, administration, and daily work. Within a single platform, you can choose from models such as ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Mistral to help with a wide range of tasks.
Learn about Spartan AI
AI at UNCG: Environmental Impact, Costs, and Responsible Use
UNCG is making approved AI tools available so students, faculty, and staff can build the knowledge and judgment needed to navigate an increasingly consequential technology. This reflects UNCG’s responsibility to provide guidance, safeguards, and governed tools while respecting academic judgment, privacy, security, cost, and environmental considerations. Appropriate use depends on the context, the task, and applicable academic and institutional expectations.
Environmental-impact message
UNCG recognizes that AI has environmental impacts. AI services use energy, computing capacity, and, in some cases, water through the data centers that support them. Those impacts are real and should be considered thoughtfully.
AI is also one of many digital services and campus activities with resource demands. Data centers support email, cloud applications, streaming, phones, research computing, and university operations. UNCG considers environmental effects as one factor among several, alongside educational benefit, accessibility, security, privacy, cost, and institutional needs.
Our approach is to use AI intentionally: select institutionally approved shared platforms, avoid unnecessary duplication, focus on meaningful academic or operational value, and use information about activity to guide decisions. Routine text-based uses generally require fewer resources than more computationally intensive uses such as large-scale image, video, or advanced model-generation work.
Spartan AI’s usage meter gives users visibility into their activity, supporting more deliberate choices and adding a level of transparency that many technologies do not provide.
Key points for common questions
- Higher education has a responsibility to help people understand consequential technologies they will encounter.
- AI literacy is more than simply learning to write prompts. It includes evaluating outputs critically, understanding limitations and bias, protecting data, recognizing ethical issues, and knowing when AI is or is not appropriate for a task.
- University-supported tools allow UNCG to offer guidance, training, safeguards, and governance.
- AI use should be guided by the purpose, context, and applicable academic or workplace expectations.
- Instructors determine whether and how AI may be used in their courses; making tools available does not establish a university-wide approach for every course or program.
- UNCG’s focus is on building informed, responsible use—not treating AI as appropriate for every task.
- AI can be used as a shortcut, but it can also be used to test understanding, challenge assumptions, generate counterarguments, or provide feedback.
- The principle is: use AI deliberately, not dependently. People remain responsible for their thinking, choices, and work.
- Use approved, centrally governed platforms rather than unmanaged or duplicative services.
- Choose uses with clear learning, research, service, or operational value.
- Protect university data and provide appropriate guidance and expectations.
- Monitor patterns of use to inform future resource and investment decisions.
- Consider environmental impact alongside educational benefit, accessibility, security, privacy, and cost.
Key takeaway
Use AI where it adds real value—and use it responsibly, intentionally, and through tools UNCG can govern well
Frequently Asked Questions
- Will departments have to pay for this after the one-year pilot?
No. You won’t be charged personally, and your department won’t be either.
UNCG is paying for one-year trial of three AI tools: NebulaOne, Claude, and ChatGPT. The goal is to see how students, faculty, and staff actually use them in classes, research, and daily work.
When the trial ends, we’ll use what we’ve learned to choose one main AI tool for the whole of campus. UNCG will pay for that tool centrally, so AI services that meet the most campus needs will be available to every, student, faculty member, and staff member at no cost to you or your department. Departments with specialized needs for premium AI services will work with ITS to develop solutions that meet their needs.
What this means for you right now: Use the tools, explore what works, and tell us what you think. Your experience will help shape what UNCG offers long-term.
- Student data?
- Level 3 or 4?
- Sensitive research?
SpartanAI is approved for Level 3 and Level 4 data, including student and sensitive research data, with no additional restrictions on those categories. It runs within UNCG’s Azure tenant, with the same security and isolation safeguards in place for our SharePoint and OneDrive environment.
No. ITS staff cannot view individual users’ prompts or chat content through the platform’s administrative interface.
Information entered into SpartanAI may constitute a public record if it is made or received in connection with the transaction of University business. Depending on the content and context, records may be subject to retention requirements and disclosure under N.C. public records laws.
- How can I prevent it from accessing my email, one-drive, or computer files?
SpartanAI does not have direct access to files stored on a user’s local computer. OneDrive and email connectors are enabled by default; however, users can disable these connectors for individual chats.
