Introducing the U of A AI Platform

Thursday
To: University Employees
From:
Subject: Introducing the U of A AI Platform
Date: Mar 05, 2026

The University of Arizona is launching a new artificial intelligence platform that will bring a suite of AI tools to all members of the campus community. 

Built on Amazon Bedrock, the new U of A AI Platform will expand the university’s existing free and secure access to Amazon Web Services, or AWS, technology, as AI is increasingly integrated into academic research, education and the day-to-day operations of the university.

By the end of 2026, the platform will provide free access to five AI tools tailored to the University of Arizona. The tools are intended to support – not replace – human judgment, expertise and decision-making.

Several thousand members of the campus community are already piloting the first tool, U of A Gen AI, which allows users to choose from five commercially available large language models: Claude, OpenAI, Gemma, Meta Llama and Amazon Nova.

In addition to U of A Gen AI, the platform will eventually include additional services to support teaching and learning, research and operations across campus. These include: 

  • A public-facing campus chatbot that uses verified university information to answer questions about programs, services and resources
  • An Arizona AI assistant that will allow colleges, departments and offices to create custom chatbots that retrieve information only from approved institutional data sources
  • AI sandboxes that provide controlled, secure environments where researchers, instructors and students can test and experiment with AI systems without exposing sensitive or restricted data

The platform’s launch comes after the university's Office of Responsible Artificial Intelligence surveyed staff, faculty and students and hosted town halls in 2025 to better understand how AI tools are currently used on campus and where additional support is desired. Those efforts identified three priorities: universal access to high-quality AI tools; clear guidance for responsible, effective and ethical use; and strong protections for privacy and data security.

Building the platform on AWS allows the university to use existing commercial cloud infrastructure rather than building and maintaining its own large-scale computing systems. The cloud-based approach also allows the university to update or replace AI models as technologies change.

The U of A AI Platform is designed to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, the federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. To support capacity planning and cost management, the platform collects only aggregate usage metrics – such as overall system activity levels – rather than the content of individual interactions.

For more information, visit the Office of Responsible AI. 

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