Faculty Resources

The following provide guidance on the use of artificial intelligence at GMU, including applicable restrictions and security requirements:

• Guidelines on the Use of Artificial Intelligence at George Mason University.
• ITS Guidance on Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools for Administrative Purposes.
• Scalia Law's Academic Regulations - Limitations on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) in Academic Work.

Additionally, GMU Libraries' Generative Artificial Intelligence InfoGuide offers a collection of curated resources including university guidance, articles, websites, and databases relevant to artificial intelligence such as recommendations on Generative AI Detection Tools and course policy language. 

Please note that pursuant to Governor Youngkin's Executive Order 46 (PDF) issued February 11, 2025, the use of DeepSeek AI at GMU is strictly prohibited due to data protection, privacy, and security concerns. 

All faculty members have access to GMU's enterprise AI platform PatriotAI by logging in with your GMU credentials. 

PatriotAI is a suite of six specialized AI tools offering secure, university-managed access to large language models that aid academic work, studies and student life, including:

• Patriot Chat, a general-purpose conversational assistant—for everyone at George Mason. Ask Patriot Chat just about anything and get reliable and insightful answers while ensuring your privacy and security. 
• DocuMate, a scholarly document analysis assistant – for everyone at George Mason, designed to summarize documents, extract their key concepts, help formulate research questions, and conduct cross-document analyses. 
• SyllaBright, a course design assistant that helps faculty develop and refine educational materials including syllabi, learning objectives, planning assessments, and adapting content for multilingual contexts. 

GMU faculty also have access to a limited version of Microsoft Copilot for the Web as part of their Microsoft 365 subscription and Zoom AI Companion for Zoom Meetings, Recordings, and Whiteboards when using a George Mason Zoom Pro account.

The Library does not provide subscription access to AI tools, but faculty members may subscribe on an individual basis using either personal or research funds as appropriate.

If you choose to create an individual free account or subscribe to ChatGPT Plus or ChatGPT Pro, we recommend:

• Turning off the "Improve the Model for Everyone" feature so your data is not shared or used to train ChatGPT.
• Turning on the "Temporary" feature if you want additional privacy. This will keep your chat session from being saved, but you will not be able to access it later. You can also manage your chat history and clear stored memories under the "Manage Memories" feature. Even with these features, keep in mind that ongoing litigation may result in the retention of data you share with ChatGPT and other AI tools.
• Renaming and deleting saved chats to stay organized. 
• Using custom GPTs or different models depending on your use. For example, using ChatGPTo3 with "deep research" mode may provide a more in-depth response to your research question.