Generative AI Tools

ITSC is providing guidance to help members of HKUST embrace the wave of generative AI that is affecting everyone. We focus on how generative AI can improve office productivity and support knowledge advancement. By utilizing generative AI tools, all users can generate insights from large amounts of data, and work more efficiently, freeing up time for more strategic work. We believe that embracing these technologies will ultimately drive better outcomes for the University and its members.

However, you should take note of below issues when using generative AI tools:

  • Generative AI can sometimes make up answers (so-called "hallucinations"); always do fact check.
  • It is a new and still evolving technology, with reliability and accuracy not always assured.
  • Avoid using confidential, sensitive or personal data if you are not sure about how the data you input is kept and used by these tools.

Generative AI Tools Available to HKUST Members 


HKUST GenAI Platform

The HKUST GenAI Platform (the Platform) is developed by ITSC and hosted on a secure and scalable cloud platform.  The Platform provides functionality similar to the public OpenAI ChatGPT, but with chat data protected and accessible only by the user.  It supports the following language models:

  • Text: GPT-4o mini, GPT-4o, GPT-4 Turbo, GPT-3.5 Turbo (version 0125) (16k), Gemini-1.5 Pro, Gemini-1.5 Flash, Gemini-1.0 Pro and Llama 3.1 70B
  • Vision: GPT-4o mini, GPT-4o, GPT-4 Turbo
  • Image Generation: DALL.E
  • API: Supports new and upgraded Azure OpenAI models with multi-modal capabilities (except GPT-3.5 Turbo) and function calling
  • Refer to Release Notes for more information.

Available to: HKUST staff and students (access to the Platform at https://genai.ust.hk and login with your ITSC username and password)


The GenAI Platform is continuously updated with latest generative AI advancements.  Please refer to this webpage for development updates.  Other information of the Platform is available at:


 

Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) 

While there are many AI chatbots available, we consider Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) is among the most popular.

In addition to being a knowledgeable chatbot, Copilot also incorporates AI into browsing and searching. It grabs new knowledge beyond Sep 2021 by searching up-to-date information from Internet, making it a good alternative for traditional search engine. The Edge browser also allows you to open PDF file for the AI engine to digest. These features significantly expand the usage scenarios of Copilot when compared with OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Available to: HKUST staff and students

Usage Tips on Copilot

Working with Sensitive or Confidential Data

To work with sensitive or confidential data, HKUST members are advised to login to Microsoft Copilot with their ITSC accounts to enable data protection. Without the protection, Microsoft has rights to use the data you input and the results generated, and you are advised to “desensitize” your input data. See Microsoft Copilot’s terms of use for details.

 

 

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI-powered tool designed to enhance productivity in the workplace. By understanding natural language, it can help draft emails, create documents, and even generate reports and presentations, allowing users to focus on more strategic tasks. Its integration with various office applications streamlines workflows, making it a useful assistant for the modern professional.

Available to: HKUST staff with additional licenses

Usage Tips on Microsoft 365 Copilot

 

AI Chatbot for HKUST Drupal Platform

ITSC has developed an AI chatbot using OpenAI’s language model that can provide fast and accurate answers to common questions from users. The chatbot can be trained with user's own data, ensuring that it can handle domain-specific queries and terminology. The chatbot aims at saving time and resources in handling frequent enquiries.  

The chatbot is used with the HKUST Drupal platform maintained by the Information Systems Office (ISO).  Interested colleagues may contact us (cchelp@ust.hk) for more information.
 


 

Azure OpenAI API Access

Azure OpenAI API is a service hosted in Microsoft Azure cloud platform and allows you to access the advanced AI models. OpenAI API can help you unleash your creativity, solve problems, and discover new possibilities. Whether you are a developer, a researcher, a student, or a hobbyist, you can use OpenAI API to explore the frontiers of AI and bring your ideas to life.

Available to: HKUST staff and students

Usage Tips on Azure OpenAI API Access

Pricing of AI Models
 

 

HKUST GenAI Platform and Microsoft Copilot (previously Bing Chat) are the generative AI tools that ITSC suggests to use with an ITSC account login for data protection. There are also other generative AI tools such as OpenAI's original ChatGPT and Quora's Poe. A table comparing these tools can be viewed here.

 

 

Support

  • For office productivity, enterprise application and research related use, please email to cchelp@ust.hk.
  • For teaching and learning related adoption, please refer to CEI's webpage.
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