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'UT Verse' offers UT researchers new tool to support their work

The tool functions similarly to ChatGPT and is meant to help guide researchers through previous research and data the university owns.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Researchers at the University of Tennessee have a tool they can use to navigate previous research and explore data owned by UT. It's named "UT Verse," and functions similarly to ChatGPT, according to the university.

Faculty, students and staff can use it to chat with artificial intelligence systems. UT said it is a community platform and asked users to be responsible while using it, keeping conversations to topics specifically about the university. Bing Chat Enterprise can be used for general conversations, UT said online.

UT also asked users to avoid conversations pertaining to information under FERPA, PII or PHI regulation. People need to sign in with their UT email and password to use the tool.

Faculty and staff can use it to create writing prompts for assignments, draft social media posts or get answers to specific questions.

"How do we deal with writing and teaching critical thinking to students when they can have AI write a paper?" asked one university leader.

AI was a topic of discussion at the recent State of the University address. During the address, Donde Plowman, the chancellor of UTK, said she believed the university needed to become acclimated to AI technology and start using the technology to its advantage.

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