Artificial intelligence systems
Artificial intelligence in higher education
Artificial intelligence systems are increasingly prevalent in various spheres of academia, particularly due to significant advances in generative AI.
However, using AI systems and generative AI tools for studies, teaching, research, and administrative work comes with challenges, because it needs to be done ethically, securely, and responsibly. Protection of intellectual property and privacy, academic integrity, transparency, and accountability are some of the key aspects to consider in order to guide and leverage our practices.
Guidelines and recommendations
Université Laval offers numerous resources, including training, to members of it’s community to encourage reflection and sound decision-making on the use of AI systems in studies, teaching, and administrative activities and processes.
Copilot, a conversational agent available to the community
The Microsoft Copilot conversational agent is available to all students, administrative staff, faculty, and teaching staff.
Université Laval’s Microsoft 365 institutional licence provides access to the protected version of Copilot, which complies with security and confidentiality requirements. Your data is protected when you log in with your ULaval credentials.
Information security and privacy protection
It is vitally important to protect personal information when using an AI system, even a secure version.
Make sure not to upload or copy and paste personal information into an AI system:
- Do not enter any personal or confidential information, such as first and last names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, passwords, and access codes.
- Do not share documents that contain sensitive or personal information, such as academic records, financial data, student results, and research data.
If you have any questions on the subject, please see the regulation on the responsible use of information technology (PDF, in French only) and the policy on the protection of personal information (PDF, in French only). Note that they are only available in French.
Copyright protection
- Do not upload or copy and paste complete passages or substantial excerpts from documents protected by the Copyright Act into AI systems.
- If the excerpt used represents a significant proportion of another person’s work, make sure that the reproduction falls under one of the exceptions to the Copyright Act or obtain permission from the rights holders.
- Always provide full references for the works you use.
If you have any questions about copyright and AI systems, check the Bureau du droit d’auteur’s artificial intelligence page (in French only).