Chatbots

Testing Out Chatbots

Should you try out chatbots? The short answer is "it depends."

At this point in time, SSU does not have a chatbot tool that has been fully vetted and approved for widespread usage on campus. SSU's Information Technology Services (ITS) office is currently reviewing and assessing AI tools for campus usage; we recommend reaching out to them if you have specific questions about SSU-approved tools (and CTI will share relevant updates with faculty when we hear more).

Many of the major chatbots (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude) offer "free" versions of their tools to users. But "free" is in quotation marks for a reason; some of these tools require that users share personal information (names, email addresses) before signing in, and data typed or uploaded into these tools may be used by companies to train or refine their products. We strongly recommend that instructors refrain from adding any information that includes personal information about themselves or their students into chatbots, due to concerns about data privacy (and related contexts like potential FERPA violations).

Some educators have found it valuable to experiment carefully with chatbots to determine their potential uses in course and research contexts. These educators tend to refrain from sharing student work and consider whether they want to add material like their course materials (syllabi, assignment prompts) or research (especially research that may be under copyright) to the data these tools utilize. They may ask chatbots to respond to hypothetical assignments, or they may ask for research outputs related more generally to relevant course topics. Or they may just want to familiarize themselves with basic chatbot interfaces and features so they have a sense of what students may be encountering if they experiment with these tools.

Companies do provide data usage policies and relevant documentation. For example, Claude's data usage documentation (as of this writing) notes that users of their Free tier are given "the choice to allow your data to be used to improve future Claude models." Some of these resources can be lengthy and challenging to read (for students and instructors), and terms can be subject to change and revision.

For additional perspectives, listen to "What AI Really Means For Learning?," a 2025 New York Times podcast episode.