Most staff will be aware of genAI's ability to provide information or create summaries, build lists, and generate code, images, or media.
In addition to generating outputs from 'scratch', genAI tools can also be useful with editing or 'tweaking' your work - it just needs to be included as part of the prompt.
Be sure to check the important considerations for using genAI as a University staff member before you apply AI tools to your work duties.
The University of Sydney has some great pages for those interested in learning about how genAI can help with editing their work, including some sample prompts. Some pages were written for students, but are just as useful for staff:
Copilot is the endorsed genAI tool for the University. Our Writing Prompts page has information from Microsoft on how to get the best out of Copilot.
Before engaging with genAI for work at the University, staff should check out the What Can I Use? staff page. This page details important information for the use of genAI tools, including:
Staff should familiarise themselves with these considerations to ensure that policy and procedure requirements are met for their work activities.
The University provides free access for staff and students to the premium version of Copilot; sign in using your University Microsoft account details.
Copilot can also be accessed via the icon in the Edge browser, top right, along from the URL bar.
Copilot draws from GPT-4 and is connected to the Internet so its responses have more chance of using up-to-date sources. Copilot also provides links to where it obtained information, which can aid in checking for authority and accuracy (this is important to do!). Image generation is also possible via Copilot's integration Designer (powered by DALL-E).
The University's access to Copilot provides enterprise protection for your data and does not use your prompts to train the language model or system. Your prompts and Copilot's responses are now saved for 90 days, under enterprise data protection.
It's important to check for the shield icon top-right of window to ensure that you're logged in through the University's access. If you hover your mouse over the shield it should read: "Enterprise data protection applies to this chat", as shown right.
Update 21 August 2025: Microsoft has added opt-in access to GPT-5. To enable GPT-5, users currently need to click the button shown right. The button will then display as 'GPT-5 On'.
Our Writing Prompts page has information from Microsoft on how to get the best out of Copilot.
To learn more about Copilot:
The University does not endorse any of the following tools. For an approved AI tool, see the enterprise version of Copilot above.
Generative AI is an evolving space. Keep up to date with new tools via There's an AI for That and the Generative AI Product Tracker.
Here is a very short list of some generative AI tools. These may not offer data security/privacy like the University's access to Copilot:
Before creating AI-generated imagery there are a number of considerations to be taken into account. LDTI here at the University have created some useful pages for use of AI image generators:
These pages have been created with staff/course use in mind, but still have useful information for students.
And when working with image generators, don't forget about the potential bias and copyright issues and considerations in this space, and acknowledging that you've use an AI tool (see the Cite page).
The University of Sydney had an expansive list of creation tools and models on their AI in Education site, including for audio and video, presentations, coding, and 3D models.
We'd love to hear your feedback on this portal. If you think changes could be made, or more information added, please visit our feedback page.
