Which AI tools are your staff using?

[DavR]

We're just in the process of creating our policies on AI use in school, and that will include which AI tools are going to be our recommended tools, and which are not. From a poll we ran just before Christmas, we found that at the moment, most people who are using AI are using ChatGPT. 

 

We have the licensing for entry level Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, but I'm just wondering whether it's worth our time getting these tools set up and tested, when so far most people have gone to ChatGPT. I'm sure we've all been there before and put a lot of time and effort into a technically better product, only for users to go with the "buzz word" product of the day!

 

As a third option, our Headteacher is also keen on Teach Mate, a school specific AI tool. This would be an extra cost, but, it has a lot of school tasks built in to it. If we bought into that, then we'd very much be pushing our staff to use it.

 

What AI tools are your staff using? Have you allowed them to use popular tools of their choice such as ChatGPT, or, have you sought to lead behaviour towards specific school approved tools, and if so which ones?

[synaesthesia]

Gemini & related, plus Copilot & related, Canva and a couple from the KeyGPT etc.

ChatGPT is a very specific no-no.

Limits reach of what can be done with the data even with staff being trained not to send any PII, and MS & Google can be told not to do anything with your data. ChatGPT can't.

[Pottsey]

As far as I can tell everyone has given up on AI tools for the most part on the sites I visit. They are just too unreliable and provide too much false information presented in a confident this is correct manner. The only tools I haven't given up on is some of the photo editing tools for removing backgrounds and stuff. 

Edited January 13 by Pottsey

[flipthebit]

Neurameet. It records audio from meetings and produces minutes/notes.

[DavR]

3 minutes ago, synaesthesia said:

Gemini & related, plus Copilot & related, Canva and a couple from the KeyGPT etc.

ChatGPT is a very specific no-no.

Limits reach of what can be done with the data even with staff being trained not to send any PII, and MS & Google can be told not to do anything with your data. ChatGPT can't.

 

That makes sense, the confidentiality issue is something we'll definitely need to enforce.

 

So do you allow all data including confidential into Copilot / Gemini, after ensuring they're configured not to share it?

[synaesthesia]

Staff are trained not to do it, so it's not allowed by policy. Can't stop them of course, but at least with those limited sites we can some semblance of control over said data.

[DavR]

3 minutes ago, flipthebit said:

Neurameet. It records audio from meetings and produces minutes/notes.

 

Is that for in-person meetings or Teams calls? 

 

I seem to recall we were looking for something for in-person meetings a while back, but everything we found was designed for minuting video calls. 

[flipthebit]

In person. I think there's an online version coming soon as well.

[LeMarchand]

I know some staff use ChatGPT. None of my sites have got as far as thinking about policies.

[DavR]

1 minute ago, flipthebit said:

In person. I think there's an online version coming soon as well.

 

Useful to know, thanks!

 

I think the moment has passed on that one, but, in case anyone asks again.

[flipthebit]

1 minute ago, DavR said:

 

Useful to know, thanks!

 

I think the moment has passed on that one, but, in case anyone asks again.

I think there's a free trial should you be interested.

[DavR]

4 minutes ago, flipthebit said:

I think there's a free trial should you be interested.

 

There is - I've just sent it to our Ops Manager to see if she's interested.

[sigma]

I see staff are using grammerly, chatgpt and chalkie.ai (which is teacher specific).  I note that one uses teachmate, but I also hear some bad vibes about that from elsewhere.  

 

There seems to be less AI use this term than last.

 

ATM, they can't use anything outside of the LGfl suggested list.

[DavR]

20 minutes ago, sigma said:

ATM, they can't use anything outside of the LGfl suggested list.

 

Do you have a link to the LGfL suggested list? Or do you just mean those that are allowed through the web filtering by default?

 

Interestingly I've found some evidence of LGfL doing a pilot using Teach Mate, but, whilst the videos are still up on their YouTube channel, the article on their website has been removed. The videos have only had a few views in two years, so I'm guessing that didn't get too far 😕 

[TechMonkey]

Don't forget that Co-pilot, and I presume tenanted Gemini, will keep your data walled off and pledge not to train the LLM on it.  This is good for GDPR and safeguarding.  Co-pilot also follows the age rating of a user (minor, not-adult, adult) to say if the user is allowed access to it or not.  Again, I presume Google does the same.

 

Any pupil data put into ChatGPT is essential fired out into the ether and you have no control over it.

[itskdog]

Currently we only permit Copilot (as long as you're logged in with your M365 account for their basic Enterprise Data Protection) and TeachMate (who promise not to train on our data, but it's up to staff to have their own subscriptions, we're not paying for that from the school budget), and block everything else on the network filter, but can't block too easily if someone switches to a mobile hotspot or takes their laptop home. We've just moved from Integris to Arbor, and that has a built-in LLM to create student summaries for reports, emails home, etc.

 

1 minute ago, DavR said:

Do you have a link to the LGfL suggested list? Or do you just mean those that are allowed through the web filtering by default?

 

LGfL have the "AI Chat & Image Generators" category from base Netsweeper, but also have a custom "Bundle" you can use to allow a number of AI tools for staff that they might find useful, if you're using user-based filtering - that includes ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Gemini, "plus a small selection of AI URLs commonly used in education" (e.g. TeachMate, The Key). The description of the bundle actually recommends not using it but instead manually allowing just the sites you approved in your AI policy.

[DavR]

8 minutes ago, itskdog said:

LGfL have the "AI Chat & Image Generators" category from base Netsweeper, but also have a custom "Bundle" you can use to allow a number of AI tools for staff that they might find useful, if you're using user-based filtering - that includes ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Gemini, "plus a small selection of AI URLs commonly used in education" (e.g. TeachMate, The Key). The description of the bundle actually recommends not using it but instead manually allowing just the sites you approved in your AI policy.

 

I see what you mean with the select AI bundle (we're an LGfL school too). We currently have the AI category allowed for staff only, but we'll be locking it down a bit when we've made our choices and set our policy. That bundle may prove useful in future. 

[Ditto]

Restricted to M365 Copilot ('cause we are an MS shop and so it must be safe!). Already the content creators includind the fundraising team (charity, not a school) are unhappy. Stifles creativity and focuses on technolgical platform rather than AI ethical usage. Sigh - as much for the predicability of the route taken.

[paulkerton]

1 hour ago, Ditto said:

Restricted to M365 Copilot ('cause we are an MS shop and so it must be safe!). Already the content creators includind the fundraising team (charity, not a school) are unhappy. Stifles creativity and focuses on technolgical platform rather than AI ethical usage. Sigh - as much for the predicability of the route taken.

Users cannot be trusted to protect data. It's that simple. Whether they're happy or not, they will take the easiest path of least resistance, even if that means exposing the data of others.

[Ditto]

I think in my charity setting, there is a strong will to protect data - staff have access to some of the most sensitive data and loss of that data undermines the very work they are doing - I understand in other environments this might not be the case. However, the company policy does nothing to protect data. There is no protection in place. The positive bit is that there is a realisation that this is very much v1 of the policy, and for example there have been primilary discussion about Data Loss Protection applications. I suppose you start somewhere, but a better job could have been done before rushing the policy out.

[sigma]

4 hours ago, DavR said:

 

Do you have a link to the LGfL suggested list? Or do you just mean those that are allowed through the web filtering by default?

 

Interestingly I've found some evidence of LGfL doing a pilot using Teach Mate, but, whilst the videos are still up on their YouTube channel, the article on their website has been removed. The videos have only had a few views in two years, so I'm guessing that didn't get too far 😕 

 

The LGfl suggested Staff AI list is usefully in a System Bundle in SchoolProtect.  It's not a "default" per se as you have to both enable it and also block the category AI Chat and Image Generators.

I don't think I should be sharing their work directly here.

 

Note, that if you allow AI Chat and Image generators, you allow Grok both stand alone and in X (if you allow X).  Blocking AI chat and Image Generators blocks Grok stand alone and in X, but still allows X, if you see what I mean.

 

(After the disaster that is Schools Broadband we totally love LGfl to bits).

 

I see this was answered above.

[DavR]

4 hours ago, sigma said:

 

Note, that if you allow AI Chat and Image generators, you allow Grok both stand alone and in X (if you allow X).  Blocking AI chat and Image Generators blocks Grok stand alone and in X, but still allows X, if you see what I mean.

 

Good point re Grok et al, given current controversies. 

 

I think I might progress from allowing the AI category (staff only) to allowing the Selected AI Tools bundle (staff only) sooner, rather than later. Just to be on the safe side. 

 

In the finest traditions of IT, it will also highlight if anyone is using something outside the approved list of AI products, as they'll shout that it's been blocked 😉

 

[sigma]

I'm using tht list in the light that I'm having difficulty in getting the SMT to issue any guidance about staff use of AI whatsoever.  No shouts from staff since I set that when we joined LGfl in September. 

 

I did notice one member of staff getting blocked from using chalkie.ai and after having a look at it asked LGfl if they considered it appropriate for the staff AI allowed bundle.  They considered it was, and it was added.

 

Should also add that you need Full Decryption for blocking Grok in X.   We switched it on for all "people session" Policy Groups when we onboaded with LGfl.

[dhicks]

23 hours ago, DavR said:

From a poll we ran just before Christmas, we found that at the moment, most people who are using AI are using ChatGPT.

 

I suspect this might be more brand / keyword recognition than any real preference for ChatGPT. Similar to what happened with Zoom during the pandemic - Google and Microsoft had more manageable solutions probably more appropriate for a school / corporate setting, but for some reason staff tended to talk about / try and use Zoom as it was the one they remembered. At some point we realised people were referring to Google Meet as "Zoom", and that, in their heads, "Zoom" was a generic term (like "Hoover") which just meant "video conferencing".

 

We have a Google Workspace subscription that includes the more advanced features of Gemini, so we've gradually been trying out some features. Other AI tools are blocked - Smoothwall's "AI tools" category seems to be quite comprehensive. Google's NotebookLM (which allows staff to processes a bunch of documents and then interrogate those via a chat bot) looks useful, and I'm currently finding Gemini is better able to provide answers to technical questions about various products used in an education context than the average support person. I'm aiming to give an agentic tool a go, where you can give an AI agent access to files and a workspace of some sort to help complete some tasks, but I'm keen to get a controlled, limited environment set up first before having staff or pupils try and use that.

[DavR]

31 minutes ago, dhicks said:

I suspect this might be more brand / keyword recognition than any real preference for ChatGPT. Similar to what happened with Zoom during the pandemic - Google and Microsoft had more manageable solutions probably more appropriate for a school / corporate setting, but for some reason staff tended to talk about / try and use Zoom as it was the one they remembered. At some point we realised people were referring to Google Meet as "Zoom", and that, in their heads, "Zoom" was a generic term (like "Hoover") which just meant "video conferencing".

 

Oh, absolutely brand recognition - taking what they've seen and heard elsewhere, and applying it to the school setting. I also remember how painfully difficult it was to get staff to let go of Zoom, and use Google Meet or Teams, for a good year or two, which is why I was wary of wasting my time doing the same with AI tools 😂 But the very good points made about confidentiality and closed systems have convinced me that getting Copilot and Gemini set up and pushing people towards that is both desirable, and necessary.

 

We only have the basics Google subscription, but must admin I'm more inclined towards Gemini than Copilot, probably because I've seen Gemini demonstrated, and, not had it rammed down my throat like Microsoft have been doing with Gemini. I just want to access my Office programs, guys..... But yes, NotebookLM looks interesting too, I like the idea of creating your own limited knowledge base, rather than using the whole LLM data. Time will tell if that's something I could sell to others.