ChatGPT has, quite literally, entered the chat at Vanderbilt. The university has officially launched Amplify GenAI, a custom generative AI software for use by all faculty, staff and students.
As one of the first universities to roll out a comprehensive generative AI program to all its community, Vanderbilt is empowering its users to tap into the possibilities of AI in a safe and secure way-setting the stage for institutions of higher education across the nation. All data processed through the platform stays within Vanderbilt's technological "sandbox."
"Amplify GenAI is based on Vanderbilt's own internal research and development. It allows us to emphasize interdisciplinary innovation," said Jules White, senior advisor to the chancellor on generative AI in enterprise and education and professor of computer science. "The 'AI models' are like engines. Vanderbilt is focused on building cars around the engine, teaching people how to drive, designing transportation systems and so forth. Building the car, driving it and solving for transportation is an interdisciplinary problem, not an engine building problem. Amplify GenAI focuses on allowing innovation around any AI model, or engine, from any vendor. Other institutions are focusing on procuring an engine and a car together from vendors, limiting their experimentation with different engines and limiting interdisciplinary innovation."
EASY ACCESS FOR ALL VANDERBILT
To access and use Amplify, faculty, staff and students can go directly to the dedicated Amplify portal and enter their Vanderbilt email address. There, they'll find an intuitive interface featuring various generative AI tools.
These tools can assist with various tasks from writing papers to analyzing complex data sets. As part of this rollout, Vanderbilt has established dedicated support channels and training modules to guide users through the available resources, ensuring that the academic community is both empowered and equipped to harness the capabilities of AI effectively-and securely.
"We encourage faculty, staff and students to explore and innovate with all platforms. However, when it comes to any of our private data, only Amplify GenAI should be used," White said. "We have partnered closely with Shane Callahan and VUIT to make sure that Amplify GenAI has the security controls that we need to safeguard our data. Vanderbilt covers the costs of Amplify GenAI, so that is a huge benefit to campus. Everyone can have access."
A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT
With significant investment from the Office of the Provost, the initiative is further supported by the Office of the Chancellor and VUIT, signaling a robust, cross-campus collaboration to enhance academic offerings and institutional capabilities. Allen Karns, the CTO of the Amplify GenAI project, has been instrumental in leading the technical direction and outreach to universities across the world. He has worked closely with Amazon Web Services to help promote adoption of Amplify GenAI as a comprehensive open-source enterprise generative AI platform.
"This initiative empowers our community to innovate across disciplines with the highest standards of security and flexibility," Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs C. Cybele Raver said. "By providing every student, faculty member and staff member access to state-of-the-art AI tools, Vanderbilt underscores its commitment to equipping our community with transformative skills and resources. Amplify is a foundational step in our broader mission to drive forward the future of learning, research and discovery in an increasingly digital world."
Amplify underscores Vanderbilt's commitment to provide more students and employees with the skills and credentials needed in a society shaped by technology. Along with the launch of the Connected College of Computing, Amplify emphasizes this commitment, focusing on developing cutting-edge programs and research opportunities that harness the advancements in computer science and AI in a way that's beneficial for the university and beyond.
LOOKING AHEAD
From aiding in research projects to enhancing classroom experiences, Amplify is poised to transform how the Vanderbilt community engages with technology.
"One of the exciting capabilities [of Amplify GenAI] is that you can build and deploy your own state-of-the-art chatbot or automation in five minutes or less," White said. "You can build an HR chatbot, which we are doing with Sydney Savion's team for benefits. You can create a chatbot to advise on best practices for event planning on campus. You can create a chatbot to help plan and execute nursing and health care simulations. We just finished a project with Lori Schirle in nursing that can automatically assess a research study for bias based on her cutting-edge work in prompt engineering in this space."
With the Amplify program, Vanderbilt University is not just responding to the rapid advancements in AI, it is taking proactive steps to integrate these technologies in a meaningful way.
"A huge benefit of Amplify GenAI to our community is that it is vendor independent. Over the next five years, we estimate that Vanderbilt will save significantly by running Amplify GenAI," White said. "There is intense competition between vendors, and our platform allows us to always take advantage of advances in models, as well as price cuts."
