Generative AI Tools

ITSO is providing guidance to help members of HKUST embrace the wave of generative AI that is affecting everyone. We focus on how generative AI can improve office productivity and support knowledge advancement. By utilizing generative AI tools, all users can generate insights from large amounts of data, and work more efficiently, freeing up time for more strategic work. We believe that embracing these technologies will ultimately drive better outcomes for the University and its members.

Generative AI Usage Guidelines provides HKUST members with essential guidance on leveraging generative AI tools responsibly. It emphasizes ethical usage, fact-checking, and data privacy. Users are encouraged to review this resource to ensure compliance with university policies and foster secure practices.

Generative AI Tools Available to HKUST Members

 

Open WebUI

Open WebUI is a new platform provided by ITSO for supporting generative AI services. It provides a lot of enhanced features over the current HKUST GenAI platform and has the same level of chat data security protection. 

 

Improvements Over Current HKUST GenAI Platform  

  • Support web search
  • Allow upload of more document formats (e.g., XLSX and PPT in addition to PDF and DOCX)
  • Support voice input (including Cantonese) for enhanced interaction
  • More convenient image input using screen capture or video camera in addition to file upload
  • Allow web page query
  • Switch models in the current chat allowing you to compare performance of different models
  • Support system prompt and personal memory for customized interaction with LLM
  • All the chat retention period is 30-day. Outdated chat will be deleted automatically. User are allowed to export chat history.

 

Available to
HKUST staff and students (login at https://openwebui.hkust.edu.hk with your HKUST account and password)

 

Additional Information

 

 

Google Gemini Enterprise (EDU Edition)

Gemini Enterprise (EDU Edition) is a tailored, education-focused AI platform designed for universities, colleges, and schools. It provides campus-wide enterprise search, intelligent assistance, and workflow automation under strict educational data privacy (campus data is never used for model training) while utilizing a unified, pooled resource model to optimize campus-wide usage.

đź“Ś Key Features

  • Latest Gemini Models: Immediate access to Google's most advanced reasoning engines, including Gemini 3.8 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Pro. These models deliver incredibly fast, highly accurate reasoning for complex math, coding, and multi-step academic tasks.

  • Advanced Multimodal Generation: Generate high-fidelity diagrams, academic illustrations, and visual aids using Gemini 3 Pro Image (Nano Banana Pro).

  • Academic Workflows & Specialized Agents:

    • Gemini Notebook Enterprise: Organize research materials, upload course readings, and instantly generate study guides, summaries, source citations, or even interactive audio overviews to study on the go.

    • Deep Research Agent: Automates literature reviews and data synthesis into cited, comprehensive reports.

    • Interactive Canvas: A side-by-side workspace to draft, edit, and export academic papers (Docs/PDF) and presentation decks (Slides/PPTX).

  • Custom Workflow Builder: Build custom no-code agents to automate repetitive tasks, such as managing office hours, creating syllabus FAQs, or sorting academic databases.

  • Pooled Resource Model: All daily query, research, and generation allowances are grouped into a single, shared institutional pool. This ensures that lighter users (such as general students) naturally buffer the high-volume requirements of heavy users (such as researchers and faculty).

đźš« Features Excluded from the EDU Edition

This academic edition focuses on research and productivity; the following features are not included:

  • No AI Developer Tools or IDE Credits: Excludes Antigravity developer credits and IDE tooling.

  • No Gemini Code Assist: Bundled coding assistant licenses found in commercial tiers are excluded

 

Available to

  • Staff – Departments or Schools interested subscribe GE for their staff members.  please contact cchelp@ust.hk for further subscription details.
  • Student – Individual students can subscribe GE license for enhancing their learning experience. Please note certain academic programs or courses may provide or sponsor GE licenses for the students. Please visit this link for more details.

 

Getting Started

Once you have secured your Google Gemini License, you can access it at https://gemini.ust.hk and sign-in with your HKUST account. 

 

Additional Information

 

Microsoft Copilot Chat

Microsoft Copilot Chat is a free AI-powered assistant available to all HKUST staff and students, helping users brainstorm ideas, draft content, summarize information, write code, analyze data, and explore topics through natural language conversations. 

When you sign in with your HKUST account, your data with Copilot Chat is protected by enterprise-grade data protection, ensuring that prompts and responses are handled securely and are not used to train foundation AI models.  More details can be found in the webpage, “Usage Tips on Microsoft Copilot Chat” below.

Copilot Chat is available through a web browser, desktop app, and mobile app.  Refer to this webpage, under “Where to find the Copilot app,” for access instructions. More usage information is available in the links below.

 

Available to

HKUST staff and students

 

Additional Information

 

 

Microsoft 365 Copilot

For an additional subscription fee, HKUST staff can enable the fully licensed Microsoft 365 Copilot experience, which includes Microsoft Copilot Chat and priority access in AI performance and integration with Microsoft 365 apps.

Enterprise-grade data protection applies when you sign in to Microsoft 365 Copilot with your HKUST account. Your prompts and responses are handled securely and are not used to train foundation AI models.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is available through a web browser, desktop app, and mobile app.  Refer to this webpage, under “Where to find the Copilot app,” for access instructions. More usage information is available in the links below.

For subscription-related inquiries or other questions, please contact cchelp@ust.hk.
 

Available to

HKUST staff with an additional license subscription fee

 

Additional Information


 

 

AI Chatbot for HKUST Drupal Platform

ITSO has developed an AI chatbot using OpenAI’s language model that can provide fast and accurate answers to common questions from users. The chatbot can be trained with user's own data, ensuring that it can handle domain-specific queries and terminology. The chatbot aims at saving time and resources in handling frequent enquiries.  

The chatbot is used with the HKUST Drupal platform maintained by the Information Technology Services Office (ITSO).  Interested colleagues may contact us (cchelp@ust.hk) for more information.
 


 

HKUST Generative AI API Service

HKUST Generative AI API is a unified, high-performance service hosted in the cloud that provides secure, scalable access to industry-leading AI models. Whether you are a developer, a researcher, a student, or a hobbyist, you can use API to explore the frontiers of AI and bring your ideas to life.

 

Available to

HKUST staff and students

 

Additional Information

 

Support

  • For office productivity, enterprise application and research related use, please email to cchelp@ust.hk.
  • For teaching and learning related adoption, please refer to CEI's webpage.
Learn More

Support

General Enquiries cchelp@ust.hk
Suggestions & Complaints cclisten@ust.hk
Serviceline +852-2358-6200