Tools & Resources
An overview of the AI landscape at Cornell — and the tools available to help you match the right solution to your needs.
What is AI?
AI refers to systems that handle reasoning, decision-making, and creative problem-solving. Today, "AI" usually means large language models (LLMs) built for understanding and generating natural language.
Accelerating AI at Cornell
The Hub develops a scalable, secure platform of tools available to campus groups, and offers an overview of the AI landscape to help match the right solution to your needs.
The AI Ecosystem: Models & Applications
LLMs are the "brain" that powers applications, built by developers like OpenAI and Anthropic. Tools act as the "limbs" — web search, image generation, and code execution.
Beyond Chat Interfaces: API Access
Models can be reached through APIs for integration into custom applications. This gives more flexibility but requires programming skill.
Choosing the Right Model
Key dimensions to weigh: modalities, model size, reasoning capability, context window, and safety features.
AI Agents: Beyond Chat
Agents are autonomous systems that break down tasks, choose tools, and run multi-step workflows with minimal oversight.
Available & upcoming tools
These tools are currently available, or under consideration, at Cornell. Your local IT group may offer additional options.
Cornell AI Platform
A secure, private sandbox with two modules: the AI Gateway (access to frontier models in a secure Cornell environment) and AI Agent Studio (build, manage, and govern AI agents and workflows).
Microsoft Copilot Basic
A university-wide "private" tool providing access to OpenAI GPT and DALL·E models without storing login/chat data or training the models. Enter only low-risk data.
Claude
Anthropic Claude tools (Claude.ai, Claude Code, Claude Cowork) under evaluation for higher-ed use. Cornell is working with Anthropic on an offering that fits higher-ed data and security needs.
Zoom AI Companion
A meeting assistant offering shareable summaries, next-steps lists, recording highlight reels, and catch-up for latecomers. Security and privacy are being evaluated.
Adobe Firefly
Generate images from text prompts, then manipulate and edit them. Generative voice and video content are coming soon. Available with an Adobe license.
Important security note
Do not enter any data classified as moderate-risk or above into public generative AI platforms. Use only CIT-approved or locally-approved tools for sensitive data.
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