1 of 10

�Deploying Secure AI Solutions in 5 minutes… or less

Patrick Thibaudeau – Director IT Innovation & Academic Technologies

2 of 10

A little history of AI at York

Team Members – IT Innovation

    • Patrick Thibaudeau, Director IT Innovation & Academic Technolgies at University Information Technology (UIT)
    • Vidur Kalive, AI Architect at University Information Technology (UIT)
    • Isaac Kogan, Work Study Student with IT Innovation & Academic Technologies at University Information Technology (UIT)

AI Journey at York

2018

    • Student Virtual Assistant prototype project launched
    • UIT, Student Services, Faculties, Communications

​

2020

    • September 2020, SAVY officially launched
    • Since launch, SAVY is fully maintained by IT Innovation Team in collaboration with Student Services

Some Statistics – SAVY 2020- 2023

Number of Conversations

Number of Unique Students

Accuracy (Avg)

Questions outside of business hours

100000+

41000

83%

53%

Awards

    • 2021: Gartner Eye on Innovation in Higher Ed
    • 2021: CUCCIO Award in Innovation

​

2022 -2023

    • In December 2022, Generative AI made widely available
    • In August 2023, IT Innovation gets access to GenAI

3 of 10

GenAI… Cool, let’s use it!

  • For any technology, that is the wrong approach!
  • Always ask yourself why? What problem am I wanting to solve?
  • Focus on pain points

4 of 10

Before using AI

Understand what AI is

What can it do for me?

Quick Wins

5 of 10

Project Goals

Use generative AI to build bots

Utilize “indexing” technology for cost-savings

Build knowledgebases directly from files

Gain ownership over systems

Create a simple path for integration

Ensure user-data privacy

Reduce pressure on existing teams!

​

6 of 10

Current AI Initiatives at York

Cria �

Platform (leveraging OpenAI GPT4) enabling creation of customized AI solutions leveraging York’s data

Course Assistant ��Helps students navigate course logistics and resources

OUR (Registrar) Assistant ��Reducing administrative workload (15 staff answering 48000 emails per term)

Glendon Recruitment ��AI assistant for prospective students

 MinutesMaster ��AI tool to summarize meetings and provide notes

 ResearchGPT ��Accelerating Literature Review and supporting York researchers.

SAVY��Upgrading SAVY, our Student Virtual Assistant to Generative AI

Procurement AI��Optimizing procurement process and services

AI in Course Design�

Integrating AI tools into our LMS, to help with course design and assessments

​

​

Microsoft Copilot

​

Rolling out Copilot for all Microsoft Office Applications

​

​

7 of 10

August 2023 –A New Journey Begins

8 of 10

Current Architecture

9 of 10

Cria Demo

10 of 10

AI Integration: LMS Demo