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Audience: Students, Faculty, Staff
Responsible Group: IT Training and Outreach
Overview
The University of Arkansas supports three AI options that departments may consider when purchasing licenses. Each tool serves a different purpose:
- Copilot Chat– (already included in Microsoft account) A lightweight chat experience grounded in web-search answers for quick Q&A, web research, brainstorming, and writing help.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot – (for purchase) An AI assistant embedded in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams that leverages Microsoft Graph to accelerate everyday productivity. Uses all of your work files on Microsoft 365 when answering prompts.
- OpenAI ChatGPT Edu – (for purchase ) An institution-optimized AI platform for teaching, research, and administrative work with FERPA-aligned privacy and enterprise controls.
Tip: Choose the tool that matches your workflow and data needs. If you live in Microsoft apps and need secure access to all of your M365 files, consider Microsoft 365 Copilot. If you need compliant, cross-disciplinary AI for research, instruction, and administration, consider ChatGPT Edu. For quick, non-sensitive tasks and web searching, Copilot Chat is a convenient option.
Key Features
Copilot Chat (Already part of your @uark account)
- Embedded in Microsoft 365 apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams).
- Great for quick Q&A, brainstorming, writing help, and web research.
- Consumer-level privacy; not intended for sensitive or FERPA-protected institutional data.
Microsoft 365 Copilot (Faculty & Staff)
- Uses Microsoft Graph to work with your email, calendar, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams content (within your tenant permissions).
- Enterprise compliance posture (e.g., data remains in your M365 tenant; licensing determines covered standards).
- Use cases: drafting reports/policies, analyzing budgets/enrollment/assessment data, building presentations, summarizing and actioning Teams meetings.
- Cost: $240 per year per license
OpenAI ChatGPT Edu (Faculty & Staff)
- Runs on advanced GPT-4o family models tailored for higher education use cases.
- FERPA-aligned; institutional data is not used to train OpenAI models.
- Enterprise controls: SSO/SCIM, role-based policies, admin dashboards.
- Use cases: lesson/curriculum planning, policy and communications drafting, research support (summarization, coding help, data analysis), grant writing, IT/HR documentation.
- Access levels:
- Standard User – Chat, file uploads, data analysis.
- Cost: $120 per year per license
- Power User – Includes Deep Research for faculty/researchers/advanced staff.
- Cost: $240 per year per license
- Licensed per seat with higher-ed pricing.
Comparison at a Glance
| Feature |
Copilot Chat |
Microsoft 365 Copilot |
OpenAI ChatGPT Edu |
| Primary audience |
Students, Faculty, Staff |
Faculty, Staff |
Faculty, Staff |
| Primary data source |
Public web-grounded an general knowledge |
Your Microsoft 365 data (emails, chats, files, meetings) |
OpenAI's training data with EDU privacy safeguards |
| Where to use it |
Embedded into M365 apps (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, OneNote, Teams), and online chat |
Embedded into M365 apps (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, OneNote, Teams), and online chat |
OpenAI's web app |
| Data exposure |
Data stays in tenant. |
Data stays in tenant. |
Data not used to train models. |
| Best for |
General search, brainstorming, drafting in a vacuum |
Personalized productivity and data-driven insights using your work data within Microsoft apps. |
Research and information synthesis, brainstorming, and productivity assistance. |
| Licensing / cost |
Already included in your @uark.edu account |
Add-on price: $240 per license per year. |
Standard User: $120 per license per year.
Power User: $240 per license per year. |
Access
Each AI tool is accessed differently, but all will be accessed using your @uark.edu for signing on.
Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot
- Desktop: Copilot is integrated in the Microsoft 365 apps, such as Outlook, Teams, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
- Web app: Access the web app on microsoft365.com/chat.
- Mobile app: Download the app M365 Copilot from Google or Apple app stores.
OpenAI ChatGPT Edu
- Web app: Access the web app on OpenAI website.
- Mobile app: Download the app from Google or Apple app stores.
Training
IMPORTANT:
Users must follow all federal and state laws, as well as UA System and University of Arkansas policies, when handling university data on any AI tool.
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