by Bob Jones, Assistant Vice President of Support Services and Emerging Technologies for Information and Technology Services

Since the fall of 2023, U-M has aimed to democratize access to a transformative tool-set to enable innovation in a secure, private, and uniquely Michigan fashion.

Our GenAI platform is designed to meet the needs of most users with three distinct offerings. While these tools have received a lot of use and attention, many in our community are still waiting to explore whether these options might offer a supplement to their own teaching or coursework. To understand what is next, a brief review of our current offerings is in order.

The first is U-M GPT, our accessible natural language and text-to-image web-app. U-M GPT currently hosts the latest GPT Omni model, DALL-E 3, and an open-source alternative called Llama 3.

Our AI service with perhaps the most appeal to our educators is Maizey, a revolutionary tool based on an AI framework called retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). Maizey is an environment designed to be an expert in almost any topic you desire, while also enabling you to define the behavior of the environment. Think of Maizey as a play of your own choosing, with the system prompt being the script for each character’s behavior. 

Lastly, we provide application program interface (API) access to our AI environment – we call this our GPT Toolkit. This is a great option for those wishing to create deep connections within applications, web, and data. Those using the API environment may be building novel applications, making new discoveries, or connecting systems to optimize and enhance data flow and outputs.

What’s New?

One of the most common pieces of feedback we received since our AI platform’s release came from faculty members seeking to use Maizey for Teaching and Learning who did not have a shortcode. This fall, we are proud to announce that every academic course in Canvas now has a $1,000 per course per term allocation without the requirement of a shortcode. In addition, every faculty member can quickly create a Maizey from their course context using the native Canvas workflow you have come to expect. To date, the U-M community has created over 3,000 Maizeys, and we believe, this semester, U-M will again lead the world in the responsible and ethical use of GenAI in the Teaching and Learning domain.

Maizey can now also see within multiple data sources, and creators of Maizeys can even reschedule indexing of information from each data source. Why is this significant? Because Maizey can be pointed to Dropbox, Google Drive, Canvas, and the web, all at the same time. Imagine the power of a GenAI environment that can grow as your data grows and be automated without human intervention. Maizey will serve as a librarian to ensure you always have the exact information you desire at your fingertips.

MiMaizey: A New Assistant for Students

We are very excited to have recently released the world’s first GenAI assistant for students at U-M. This assistant, MiMaizey, is a new technology launched in beta, which means it is a preliminary version made available to gather user feedback and identify areas for improvement. Since its launch, we have received amazing feedback that highlights where students want GenAI to operate, balancing the need for real-time information with generative feedback.

MiMaizey serves as an interactive environment where students can ask questions, benefiting from its extensive knowledge of U-M-specific information. Students can inquire about dining hall menus, course materials, study guides, campus resource locations, and more. If faculty members create a Maizey for their courses, students enrolled in those courses can ask detailed questions via MiMaizey. This new tool provides personalized responses and assistance, offering a unique and supportive experience for each student.

What’s Coming?

We envision a U-M where everyone has a GenAI assistant, unique to them, which can see, hear, and provide a contextual experience appropriate for their role. We believe in equal access and innovation. We believe that you will change the world by harnessing the power of GenAI and influencing the world around you.

As we look ahead, our vision of a personalized AI assistant for every individual at U-M is not just an aspiration but a commitment to providing an inclusive, supportive, and dynamic environment. We believe that every student, faculty, and staff member possesses the potential to drive innovation. By granting everyone the power to interact with and shape AI tools, we nurture an ecosystem where creativity can thrive.