Approved Tools and Data Security
USD faculty, staff, and students have access to Gemini, Gems, and NotebookLM through the university’s Google Workspace for Education environment. USD also supports approved Zoom AI Companion features.
Please note: Faculty may request access to Gemini Pro through the ITOrders request form.
Review AI Tools @USD for a comprehensive list of popular AI products and whether they are supported.
Signing in with your USDOne account ensures that you are using Gemini and NotebookLM within USD’s managed Google Workspace environment and receiving the privacy and security protections provided through the university’s agreement with Google. These protections may not apply when you use a personal account, even when accessing the same product.
You may enter university information only when the tool is approved for that type of data and the use complies with USD policies. This may include content from Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, course materials, research files, and administrative documents when permitted.
Access to an approved tool does not mean that every use or type of information is appropriate. Before entering information:
- Review the AI Policy and Guidance
Follow USD’s data, privacy, research, and academic policies.
Confirm that copyrighted or library-licensed materials may be uploaded.
Avoid entering information beyond what is necessary for the task.
When Gemini and NotebookLM are accessed through a Google Workspace for Education account, chats and uploaded content are not used to train its generative AI models or reviewed by human reviewers. These protections apply when you are signed in with your USDOne account and may not apply to personal Google accounts or public AI services.
Related Resources: Review Google’s Generative AI in Workspace Privacy Hub
No.USD ITS does not recommend connecting USD email, Google Drive, Google Calendar, or other university systems to an Public AI platform, connector, browser extension, plug-in, or service. The ability to register for a tool using your USD email address does not mean that the tool or its connections are approved by the university.
Use only approved Google Workspace integrations when working with USD content to ensure compliance with FERPA and GDRP regulations.
An approved tool has been formally reviewed or licensed by USD and has defined requirements for security, privacy, support, and permitted data use. You must still follow the data allowances and policies established for that tool.
A public AI tool is a consumer service that USD has not formally approved, licensed, or managed. Examples may include free or individually purchased AI chatbots, writing assistants, image generators, browser extensions, and plug-ins. Public tools may be used only with information appropriate for public disclosure. Never enter confidential, sensitive, student, research, or other non-public university information into them.
Related Resources: AI Tools @ USD
Do not connect the tool to USD systems or enter non-public university information. First, review the Approved AI Tools @ USD page to determine whether an approved tool can meet your needs. If no suitable option exists, contact Information Technology Services to ask about the university’s tool-review and approval process before purchasing, connecting, or requiring others to use the tool.
Faculty should also avoid requiring students to create accounts with unapproved tools until privacy, accessibility, cost, and data-use requirements have been reviewed.
Turnitin AI Detection is currently the only AI-detection tool supported by USD. It is available to faculty when students submit assignments through Canvas.
To protect student privacy, intellectual property, and university data, do not upload student work to external AI-detection websites or applications.
Related Resources: Turnitin and Draft Coach Overview | Turnitin's AI writing detection capabilities FAQs
Responsible and Ethical Use
As a contemporary Catholic university, USD approaches AI with thoughtful discernment, ensuring that technology serves human dignity, integral development, and the common good. Use AI to strengthen learning, creativity, and problem-solving—not to replace human judgment, relationships, or ethical responsibility. Be transparent, protect personal and university information, critically evaluate AI-generated content, and consider how its use affects equity, society, work, and our common home.
Follow the requirements established by your instructor, discipline, department, professional role, publisher, or project. You may be asked to identify the tool used, explain how it contributed, provide a citation or AI-use statement, or submit relevant prompts and outputs.
Citation and disclosure serve different purposes: citation identifies AI-generated content used as a source, while disclosure explains how AI contributed to your process. When expectations are unclear, ask the appropriate instructor or supervisor and err on the side of transparency.
Related Resources: Copley Library | Transparent AI Use EDUCAUSE | USD Honor Code | Law School Honor Code
AI can support learning by explaining concepts, generating practice questions, organizing ideas, and providing feedback. However, it can also reduce opportunities to develop important skills when it performs the thinking or practice an activity is intended to build.
Before using AI, consider what you are expected to learn, which parts you need to complete independently, and whether AI will deepen or replace your thinking. You should be able to explain and defend your final work without relying on the AI tool.
Related Resources: Thinking Fast, Slow, and Artificially: AI and Your Brain | Five Ways to Learn AI: About, With, Through, Without, and Against
AI systems learn from large collections of existing information and may reproduce or amplify biases, omissions, stereotypes, and inequities found in those materials. Responses may overrepresent certain cultures, languages, experiences, or perspectives while excluding others.
Consider whose perspectives are represented, whose may be missing, and who could be affected by the output. Compare AI-generated content with credible and diverse sources, and do not rely on AI alone when making decisions that affect other people.
Related Resources: AI Literacy in Teaching and Learning
AI for Teaching and Learning
Students may use generative AI only as permitted by their instructor and the requirements of the specific course or assignment. USD’s Academic Integrity Policy allows instructors to establish written rules for academic work and identifies unauthorized external assistance, fabricated information or citations, plagiarism, and violations of written course rules as forms of academic dishonesty. Students should review the syllabus and assignment instructions, verify all AI-generated information and citations, seek clarification when expectations are unclear, and err on the side of transparency by disclosing their AI use.
Related Resources: Review USD’s Academic Integrity Policy
Students should follow the requirements established by their instructor, assignment, discipline, and citation style. They may be asked to:
- Identify the AI tool used.
Explain how it contributed to the work.
Include a citation or AI-use statement.
Provide relevant prompts and outputs.
Describe how they reviewed and revised the output.
Citation identifies AI-generated material used in the final work, while disclosure explains how AI contributed to the student’s process. When requirements are unclear, students should ask their instructor and err on the side of transparency.
Related Resources: How to cite generative AI output (MLA) | How to cite generative AI output (APA) | How to cite generative AI output (Chicago)
Toolbox and through the Center for Educational Excellence. Sample language for generative AI and other USD syllabus policies is also available through the Center for Educational Excellence, Example Syllabus Language resource.
You can also review syllabus recommendations from the Writing Program.
AI may assist faculty with limited tasks, such as applying a rubric or drafting feedback, but it should not independently evaluate student learning or determine grades. Faculty must retain responsibility for reviewing student work, validating AI-generated feedback, and making all final evaluative decisions.
Before using AI, faculty should consider:
Whether the tool is approved for student information and submitted work
- Student privacy, intellectual property, and consent
- The accuracy, quality, and potential bias of AI-generated feedback
- Transparency with students about how AI contributes to evaluation
- Whether its use preserves meaningful faculty engagement with students and their learning
Some research highlights potential benefits such as timely and consistent feedback, while also raising significant concerns about privacy, legality, bias, transparency, and educational integrity.
Faculty should disclose whether and how they use generative AI in the grading process and consult their department's guidance before using AI to generate feedback on students' work.
AI-detection results are indicators, not proof of academic misconduct. These tools analyze linguistic patterns but cannot determine who wrote the work, whether AI use was authorized, or what the student learned. False positives and false negatives can occur, and Turnitin states that its results should not be used as the sole basis for adverse action against a student.
When using the Turnitin AI detection tool, we always recommend using your professional judgement in assessing the students work and leading with
AI detection should be one part of a broader, learning-centered approach to academic integrity—not a substitute for faculty judgment or meaningful dialogue with students.
Related Resources: Turnitin AI Writing Detection | Erol et al. (2025), Accuracy and limitations of AI-output detectors
AI literacy is the set of knowledge and skills needed to understand, use, communicate, and collaborate effectively with AI while critically evaluating its capabilities, limitations, and impacts. It includes recognizing when AI is being used, understanding at a high level how it works, evaluating its outputs and data, and considering the human and ethical dimensions of AI-supported decisions.
AI literacy helps students and educators make informed decisions about when and how to use AI to support learning. It enables them to evaluate AI-generated content critically, recognize errors and bias, protect human judgment and intellectual contribution, and distinguish between uses that strengthen learning and those that replace essential thinking or skill development.
Related Resource: What is AI Literacy? Competencies and Design Considerations
Canvas offers several AI-powered features, but they are not included in USD’s current license and require an additional fee. Faculty who want to use a specific AI tool in their course may request an LTI integration, subject to university review and approval. Instructors may be able to integrate a NotebookLM notebook into a Canvas course through an LTI.
Contact the Learning Design Center at LDCsupport@sandiego.edu to discuss available options and requirements.