New U of A AI Resources
The university’s AI roadmap has reached some significant milestones, shared in a town hall opened by chief AI officer David Ebert.
The biggest news is that campus community members now have access to U of A GenAI collection built on AWS Bedrock. This includes generative AI platforms that can support teaching, learning, research and administrative work. All are private and FERPA compliant, though not HIPAA compliant.
Current large language models available in U of A GenAI and their recommended uses include:
| LLM | Works with | Best for |
| Anthropic - Claude Haiku 4.5 | Text and images | Most students needs and general campus use across departments |
| Google – Gemma 3 12b IT | Text and images | Multilingual applications and extended conversations |
| OpenAI – GPT OSS 120B | Text only (no images) | Complex analytical tasks requiring advanced reasoning |
| Meta – Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct | Text and images | Analyzing very long documents or comprehensive research materials |
| Amazon – Nova Pro | Text and images | Teams prioritizing AWS integration and enterprise support |
The university is also providing members of the campus community opportunities for AI fluency—the ability to know when and how to use AI tools.
The collection of Google AI for Education Accelerator online courses offers members of the campus community ways to understand AI and even earn certificates based on their needs and interests.
During the academic year, there are two weekly series to discuss and engage the university community:
- AI Insights Interactive sessions feature faculty researchers, student speakers, and industry leaders who share trends, practical applications, diverse perspectives, and emerging tools in AI.
- AI Info Sessions explore a unique responsible AI-related topic to deepen understanding of responsible AI practices by presenting a carefully selected topic during every session.
Follow the link to each series’ web page for recordings of past sessions. See the Responsible AI Events page for all upcoming events.
Learn more about the current state of the university’s AI roadmap and watch the town hall recording.