Dear Berkeley faculty and staff,
This message provides important guidance regarding the use of artificial intelligence tools and announces that Google Gemini is now available as a University-supported service for all faculty and staff.
The landscape of generative AI tools is rapidly evolving. Recent legal developments, such as the New York Times lawsuit against OpenAI, highlight the potential risks of using consumer-grade AI services for University work. A recent court order in that case requires OpenAI to retain user content from certain consumer accounts, even if a user attempts to delete it. However, ChatGPT accounts licensed under UC’s enterprise license (coming soon) with OpenAI are not subject to this preservation order. This serves as a critical reminder of why we should not process non-public University data in services and applications that have not been approved by UC.
Guidance for Using AI Tools
Given the risks associated with non-sanctioned tools, we strongly recommend that you use University-licensed AI services for all work-related activities. Using consumer tools like the free version of ChatGPT, even if logged in using your Berkeley email account, for anything other than P1 (public) data is out of compliance with campus policy and places University and personal data at risk. ChatGPT can be accessed through AI Platform Beta (River) for P2 (low) data. For a complete list of approved services and best practices, please visit the campus Licensed Generative AI Tools page.
Benefits of Using Licensed AI Tools
To provide a secure and powerful alternative, UC Berkeley has officially enabled Google Gemini as a core Google service. Key details include:
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Data Security: Gemini is covered under our enterprise agreement with Google. This means your conversations are not used to train models and are subject to the same robust data protections as our campus Google Workspace.
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Approved for P3 Data: Gemini is approved for use with data classified up to P3 (moderate). For a summary of data protection levels, please reference the Protection Level Summary chart
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Access: You can begin using the tool immediately by visiting gemini.google.com and logging in with your Berkeley account.
By providing vetted tools, we aim to enable the Berkeley community to explore the benefits of AI while ensuring that our intellectual property and data are secure and that our use of these tools aligns with UC Berkeley’s mission and values.
Sincerely,
Tracy Shinn
Associate Vice Chancellor for IT and Chief Information Officer
Anthony D. Joseph
Chancellor's Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Cyber-risk Responsible Executive
Allison Henry
Chief Information Security Officer
This message was sent campus-wide to all staff and faculty. If you are a manager who supervises UC Berkeley employees without email access, please circulate this information to all.