Clear guidance on enterprise vs. public tools
ISLEY FRAZIER
Oct. 21, 2026
Approved AI tools for the ASU community
| Tool | Usage | Access through ASU | Public Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple-to-use AI tools, enabling anyone at ASU to develop their own experiences with generative AI. | ASU’s toolkit for creating and using custom AI experiences within a university-governed environment. | No equivalent general-public CreateAI account. ASU’s platform requires university access; individual experiences may have their own sharing settings. |
| Adobe Express is an all-in-one content creation app designed to help users craft eye-catching social posts, images, videos and more. Adobe Firefly is an AI image generation tool within Express. | Access through ASU’s Adobe offering for creating graphics, images, videos and other content. Available features depend on the assigned license. | Free Adobe Express and Firefly access, with limits on AI generation and premium features. Paid plans provide additional capabilities and usage. |
| ChatGPT Edu offers enterprise-level security and controls for educational institutions. It can reason across text and vision, use advanced tools and analyze data. | An ASU-managed educational workspace with institutional privacy protections. ASU conversations and files are not used to train OpenAI models. | ChatGPT Free and paid personal plans, including Plus and Pro. The public can use ChatGPT, but an individual subscription does not provide access to ASU’s .edu workspace or university agreement. |
| Gemini is a multimodal AI tool capable of generalizing, understanding, combining and operating across text, code, audio, image and video. | Gemini through an eligible ASU school account, with education data protections. Education-account chats are not human reviewed or used to train AI models. | Gemini with a personal Google account, including free access and paid Google AI subscription options. Features and limits differ from education accounts. |
| Copilot Chat is the free-to-use version of Microsoft 365 Copilot, offering handy assistance to users as they brainstorm, summarize data, generate images and more. | Copilot Chat through an eligible ASU work or school account, with enterprise data protection at no additional cost. This is distinct from the separately licensed Microsoft 365 Copilot offering. | Free consumer Copilot, with paid Microsoft 365 personal subscriptions offering additional AI features and higher limits. A personal account does not receive ASU’s institutional protections. |
| Zoom AI Companion helps draft emails and chat messages, summarizes meetings, improves brainstorming and more. | AI features within ASU’s Zoom environment, subject to university settings and enabled capabilities. | Limited AI access for eligible free Zoom Basic accounts, plus broader access through eligible paid plans or standalone AI subscriptions. Public access does not include ASU’s Zoom environment. |
General AI guidance for the ASU AI community
- Many AI tools available through ASU have versions anyone can use. The important difference is the account and workspace—not simply the tool’s name or whether it is free. ASU-provisioned tools operate under university agreements and controls that protect ASU data. Personal accounts operate under separate terms.
- Paying for a personal AI subscription does not bring that account under ASU’s agreement. Choose the university-provisioned experience and follow its approved data-use guidance.
- Use ASU-provisioned accounts for university work. Start with the links on ASU’s AI tools page and confirm that you are in the ASU account or workspace. An ASU email address alone does not establish that you are using the university-provisioned experience.
- Use public or personal AI accounts only with publicly available ASU information. Do not enter internal documents, student records, confidential research or other protected university information unless explicitly authorized by the appropriate ASU personnel.
- Check the tool’s data approval before uploading information. University access does not mean every tool is approved for every data type.
- Check features in your ASU account before planning an activity. Public versions may receive features earlier; ASU may enable them later or configure them differently.