After launching ZotGPT, one of the nation’s first university-developed AI chatbots to students in April 2024, UC Irvine is furthering its mission of enhancing the world-class education that has made it a Top 10 Public University (Forbes) by embracing new and exciting possibilities of generative technologies.
UCI is now introducing ClassChat: a ZotGPT tool with the ability to create course-specific enclaves and learning environments that have significant potential to enhance student learning and success. Joining our ZotGPT suite of AI services, ClassChat represents UCI’s next bold step into the higher education AI space.
Developed by UCI’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) and designed as a classroom assistant, ClassChat allows instructors to build unique course-relevant instances of ZotGPT Chat where they can upload class materials, literature and assignments for the large-language model to reference in its answers to students. By closing off the chatbot’s access to unrelated knowledge and making student AI interactions more relevant and purposeful to their coursework, ClassChat opens the doors for instructors to introduce guarded, responsible AI usage in their teaching to maximize student learning and engagement. In addition to uploading course materials and creating course-specific spaces, ZotGPT and OIT AI Lead Software Solutions Architect and Developer Chris Price states that current features provided are not yet seen in other higher education AI tools. Additional planned features also include Canvas integration, giving the ability for instructors and students to organize modules based on knowledge.
Dean Miller was influential in shaping the development of ClassChat, and in fall 2024 pilot-tested the program in his course titled Visual Studies 295, Modernism & Avant Garde,” a graduate-level art history seminar marked by advanced discussion and rigorous coursework. Speaking about his ClassChat pilot, Dean Miller emphasized the practical benefits he had envisioned from the service, citing that the curated textual corpus would potentially allow students to access relevant information and connections across advanced, graduate-level texts with greater levels of accuracy and course relevance than had they used general-information AI chatbots. While the tool demonstrated some success in certain tasks, in general his class concluded that it needs further development and fine-tuning to be appropriate for graduate-level management of information, particularly in a discipline like art history where both texts and images are involved. In the coming months, as the tool is rolled out to a variety of disciplines and levels of rigor, it is expected that the specificity and variability of its use cases will continue to be honed and enhanced.
ClassChat’s proponents, including Price and Dean Miller, recognize that the service’s strengths lie in its mission of introducing intentionality, collaboration, transparency and specificity to educational AI usage. In stark contrast to the gray area that much of student-AI interactions existed in before, Price states that ClassChat was always envisioned as a mutual collaboration tool between instructors and students, where more power is put into instructors’ hands while also providing students with a more satisfying and effective academic use-case when working with AI.
“We want to raise AI usage to a level of explicitness [in the classroom], rather than a background use-scenario that is either approved or unapproved,” says Tyrus Miller, Dean of the School of Humanities and Professor of English and Art History at UCI, on the driving force behind the development of ClassChat.
UCI’s Vice Chancellor of Information, Technology and Data & Chief Digital Officer Tom Andriola, a sponsor of this project, agrees.
He said: “AI is here and being used by students worldwide whether we like it or not. Encouraging students and educators to collaborate on the creation of useful tools that enhance student learning and provide opportunities for AI literacy and use will serve our students well as they continue on beyond college into real jobs and industries that are already utilizing AI tools every day.”
Empowering students with this tool, Dean Miller believes, also discourages improper AI usage. He says, “With ClassChat, we’re creating an environment of trust where there is not much of an incentive to violate academic integrity.
OIT’s AI team was grateful to get direction first-hand from the campus community they are trying to support, and are prioritizing what matters most to that community. Some pilot testers expressed their wish for more refinement and control over ClassChat’s learning features. In response, the development team is currently working to add experimental approaches of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) capabilities to ZotGPT and ClassChat, which would allow UC Irvine’s AI platform to deliver more context-aware, precise and relevant answers.
Students may begin to see ClassChat making its way into their classrooms starting in the Winter 2025 quarter. Instructors looking to bring ClassChat to their classrooms can reach out to oit-ai@uci.edu.
For Haley Marts, Computer Science ’24, the road to a career in computer science and technology was anything but straightforward. She began her journey at community college, exploring both mechanical engineering and computer science, and ultimately discovered a passion for programming. Captivated by the challenge of creative problem-solving, Haley found that computer science aligned with her ambition for a fulfilling STEM career that offered flexibility. Community college gave her the space to explore her interests and realize what truly resonated before she transferred to UC Irvine, where her appreciation for the creative and analytical demands of programming grew even deeper.
Adjusting to UCI and Finding ELP
It was during this time that Haley discovered UC Irvine’s Experiential Learning Program (ELP), created by The Office of Data and Information Technology (ODIT) to act as a bridge between classroom learning and career readiness by providing a space for students to build new competencies and hone their skills. The program offers hands-on projects and mentorship opportunities that allow students to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios, thereby enhancing their readiness for post-graduation careers.
“I’m a strong advocate for working at your university while studying,” Haley shared. “When I was browsing Handshake for positions related to my major, I discovered the ELP program. Initially, I was hesitant to apply, questioning whether I had enough experience to work in a role related to my field of study. However, taking that leap and applying turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made during my college career.”
Working within ELP introduced her to the unique benefits of university-based employment, where her academic growth was both supported and prioritized.
One of Haley’s most rewarding projects with ELP was creating “Tommy,” a digital human designed to enhance how ODIT engages with students. Using Soul Machines’ Digital DNA Studio, Haley helped bring Tommy to life through interactive video assets, pushing the boundaries of virtual engagement. Watching her work come to life at university events was a fulfilling moment, showcasing the impact of her contributions. The project allowed Haley to blend technical skills with creativity, bridging the gap between theory and real-world application. This balance between autonomy and teamwork has become a cornerstone of her career, mirroring her responsibilities today at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC).
The “Tommy” digital human project, in particular, was a highlight during her SLAC interview, where she created a custom video featuring Tommy in a SLAC lab coat. Now at SLAC, she thrives in a similarly supportive environment that encourages creativity and independence.
Tommy, UC Irvine’s Digital Chief Digital Officer
Defining Career Goals: A Future in Academia and Technology
Reflecting on her journey from UC Irvine to SLAC, Haley has found clarity in her career goals. Her time in academia confirmed her love for research-focused environments that emphasize continuous learning. The mentorship she received shaped her approach, highlighting the importance of a supportive workplace culture. Haley encourages students to take full advantage of everything programs like ELP offer. She stresses the importance of networking, attending events, and building relationships with peers and professionals alike. To her, the real value of ELP goes beyond the job description, opening unexpected career doors for those willing to immerse themselves fully in the experience.
“We are extremely proud of Haley’s achievements as one of the first participants in our Experiential Learning Program,” said Tom Andriola, Chief Digital Officer at UC Irvine. “Providing more hands-on opportunities is essential for our students and complement their world-class education.”
Haley Marts exemplifies how experiential learning can propel students from uncertainty to career confidence, turning challenges into opportunities for growth. Through her dedication, curiosity, and the community she found at UC Irvine, Haley’s journey is a testament to the transformative power of hands-on learning.
This past spring, the Office of Data and Information Technology (ODIT) partnered with the student group Design at UCI to offer a special VR track as part of their 2024 Design-a-thon competition, ‘True to You.’ Thanks to ODIT’s sponsorship and the leadership of Jessica Sotelo, Design-a-thon Director, and Keri Albers, Digital Innovation at UCI, nine students gained access to Meta Quest headsets and the opportunity to learn how to create immersive environments. Sotelo led corporate partnerships and sponsorship efforts, structured the challenge format, and managed communication between all stakeholders. Albers, who was integral in bringing this initiative to life, noted that the idea came from her belief that creativity enhances problem-solving skills in business, and her recognition that students are eager to master VR, a key career skill. She added, “I respect UCI’s talented and curious students, especially those in the Design-at-UCI group who develop essential skills for today’s job market.”
Jasmine Wu, Design-a-thon Director for Design at UCI, described the new VR offering as a great success, stating, “Our goal was to create a space where both beginners and advanced designers could learn from each other, push creative boundaries, and tackle real-world challenges. We believe that democratizing design thinking and fostering community-driven design can create meaningful change in the world.” Jessica Sotelo added that one of her main objectives as the 2024 Director was to make education about technology, artificial intelligence, and design more accessible to students across the nation. She emphasized that the event was intentionally structured as a fully hybrid format, allowing U.S. college students to participate at no cost, which made it especially appealing for other colleges to join.
The theme for this year’s competitiont, “True to you”, challenged teams to create a virtual reality space that their childhood selves would have loved, all within the span of one weekend. This limited timeframe encouraged participants to reflect on their personal histories and interests, turning those memories and ideas into innovative VR environments under a tight deadline.
The participants split into three teams of three, with the winning project being the “In Your Hue Galactic Gallery,” which was a virtual gallery celebrating individuality and diversity. Zaina Azim, Informatics ’25, Khanh Tran, Business Administration ’25, and Giovanna Maninell, Informatics ’25, created a space filled with vibrant colors and interactive exhibits exploring different cultural and personal identities. Each exhibit reflected the team’s commitment to inclusivity and creativity.
In Your Hue Galactic Gallery: Goals and Ambitions for the Future
Another standout project, “Strawberry Land,” was created as an ode to the team members’ childhood love of Strawberry Shortcake, Sanrio, cats, nature, and sweets.
The Imaginative Characters of Strawberry Land
The teams faced some initial challenges learning to use the VR headsets and the accompanying Engage software platform, as most team members had no prior experience with a VR headset. Ultimately, they successfully collaborated virtually, brainstorming and constructing their imaginative projects within the VR environment. Shalini Bhakta, Informatics ’25, a ‘Strawberry Land’ team member stated, “The finished product was better than we imagined. Improvisations and trial and error were part of the learning process.”
Reflecting on the event’s success, the Design-a-thon 2024 Directors, Jessica Sotelo, Jasmine Wu, and Elise Alinsung, shared that the competition exceeded everyone’s expectations. The team is excited to build on this success and plans to broaden the scope of future Design-a-Thons, expanding opportunities for even more students to participate and innovate.
“We feel an equally important part of the university experience is to provide spaces for students to experience technologies that will be a part of their future. Students need opportunities to innovate and explore,” said Tom Andriola, Chief Digital Officer and VR track sponsor. “Watching our students create immersive environments using tools they had never been exposed to in such a short period of time is a testament to student talent and their pioneering spirit.”
“Whether it’s classes or clubs, we want to make sure that everyone is able to find their place.” That was the goal that motivated UCI undergraduates Arjun Dabir, Applied and Computational Mathematics ’27, and David Culciar, Computer Science and Engineering ’27, to create Zotsites, a UCI-specific search engine powered by generative AI that helps students navigate resources, tips and information across the plethora of UC Irvine-related websites.
Conceptualized in Fall 2023 to enter the ANTrepreneur Center’s annual AI Innovation Challenge, Zotsites aims to assist students in navigating the vast expanse of UCI-related domains and webpages, including academic resources, student services, campus organizations, communities and even third-party UCI-centered discussion threads on Reddit – so students can always find the relevant information they need. With hopes that this tool becomes a part of every student’s arsenal, the duo strives to create a more active and informed student community where everyone knows exactly where to find their niche, community and the resources they need to pursue their academic and interpersonal goals during their time at UCI.
Relating to the feelings of loneliness and frustration felt by incoming students in an unfamiliar environment, the project was born out of the founders’ personal experiences navigating their academic and social lives as freshmen. Dabir had difficulties finding campus organizations that matched his interests, while Culciar had issues with course registration, a notoriously stressful time for students marked by competition over course slots, instructor considerations, prerequisites and the pressure to get everything done in four years. Turning these stressors into motivation, Culciar and Dabir then sought to create a tool that would help students who faced similar challenges find commonality, academic resources or those who simply just wanted to learn and get things done quickly.
Placing 4th in the Education and Student Experience track at the 2023 AI Innovation Challenge, the duo never gave up on their belief that Zotsites was something special. Leveraging what they learned from key figures at the ANTrepreneur Center, including Maryam Garg and Ryan Foland, the pair pursued their project beyond the contest. Following the AI Innovation Challenge, they spent much of early 2024 taking Zotsites to startup accelerators and competitions, including the TiE Global Pitch Competition, where they progressed to the regional semi-finals.
While furthering their competitive spirit, Dabir and Culciar also applied and were accepted into the UC Launch startup accelerator program at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, which became a pivotal moment in the development of Zotsites. Over that 10-week period, the pair developed a business plan, interviewed hundreds of industry leaders and stakeholders for input, and refined their vision for their product. It was also during those fateful ten weeks that they were approached by Tom Andriola, UC Irvine’s Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Data (ODIT) to further continue their work on Zotsites over summer 2024 with the support and guidance of the Office of Information Technology.
“Zotsites is a gen AI powered application that is made by UCI students for UCI students,” said Andriola. “Our office knew that we wanted to bring this ethos and the Zotsites functionality onto our ZotGPT platform, and we look forward to making this happen during the 24/25 academic year.”
What started out as a self-funded student project now had institutional backing, allowing the two to take Zotsites to its next step: a campuswide launch. Dabir and Culciar now continue their development of the service under the Office of Information Technology, namely the engineers within the ZotGPT team. Throughout the summer of 2024, the pair have been consulting with OIT staff while continuing to refine Zotsites and developing features in preparation for its release for the academic year. “Because of them,” Dabir said, “we learned so many valuable skills we would have never gotten unless we were far more experienced developers at a large company.” Apart from advising the student developers, OIT also provides server hosting services for the Zotsites domain, ensuring that the site is scalable in anticipation of its launch to campus.
Initially consisting of a single search tool, Zotsites has expanded to include a course planning feature, furthering the duo’s mission of providing convenient access to resources for UCI students. Using the service, users can input their major, minor and previously completed courses and receive a quarterly plan detailing their required course load for the rest of their time at UCI. The planner, like the search function, are available to all who visit the site and do not require a login, however users who create accounts will be able to save their searches and course plans.
Both features are slated to make their way into the initial launch version of Zotsites in fall 2024. And while the website’s signature anteater logo dances its way across students’ computer screens one-by-one, the duo are already imagining Zotsites as a fully-fledged suite of student tools, growing and adapting to changing student needs. “We want Zotsites to become a hub where students can get the help they need for anything college and career related,” asserts Dabir, expressing that the two are eager to continue work on the service for the foreseeable future.
On April 30, UC Irvine announced the launch of ZotGPT Chat for students. Custom-made to support UC Irvine’s emerging generative AI needs, ZotGPT is UCI’s answer to the data privacy and governance concerns regarding third-party AI services, while still offering users the capabilities found in the latest GPT large-language models. In contrast to the free, widely-released version of ChatGPT, ZotGPT chat offers file uploads, text extraction from PDFs, and contains information updated to April 2023, compared to ChatGPT’s data cutoff of September 2021 with the GPT-3.5 Turbo model. All of this functionality is brought to ZotGPT by Microsoft Azure AI, Amazon AWS and GPT-4 Turbo, with continual updates to come as the technology improves over time.
ZotGPT makes all of these GPT capabilities, currently available to paid ChatGPT Plus users and those running a demo of ChatGPT’s GPT-4o language model, widely available to UCI users for free; bringing feature-rich AI functionality that rivals existing services, while keeping all user-submitted data secure to university servers and out of the hands of third-parties. This means that no outside vendors will be able to access any user data to train other AI models, and any confidential, personal or institutional information submitted through text or files will be kept secure within the University’s walls.
Initially available as a beta program to only faculty and staff since March, students have quickly gravitated toward the chatbot following its launch. Tina Tsai, a ’26 Business Information Management and Software Engineering double-major student, tells me ZotGPT is now her ‘main AI chatbot’, saying “the responses [ZotGPT] gave me are worded better than my ChatGPT-3.5 and more accurate. I have [already] been suggesting to friends that [don’t] have ChatGPT-4 to use ZotGPT.” And a student programmer who was interviewed revealed that ZotGPT’s major privacy advantages and smarter responses has encouraged her to use the chatbot for more personalized tasks she hadn’t tried before with AI, such as helping her outline cover letters and resumes.
UCI’s development of ZotGPT signals that the University is exploring how higher education institutions can not only embrace but also harness generative AI to benefit the classroom. Tsai noted that from a student perspective, technologies such as AI and VR have the exciting potential to allow students to learn in more diverse formats outside of lectures and notes, expanding the boundaries of how students learn core concepts.
However, paralleling the unsettled state of AI development, students are coupling their enthusiasm towards AI with a hint of trepidation towards using university-run AI programs. Although both students interviewed expressed that UCI’s eagerness to embrace cutting-edge technologies is a net positive for learning, they had concerns with not knowing who specifically at the university gets access to student-submitted data. In response, an engagement campaign slated for Fall 2024 will help assuage student fears and promote greater transparency between ZotGPT developers, students and other relevant stakeholders, showing UCI’s commitment to accountable data governance in the midst of higher education’s shift towards adopting AI.
“Transparency is paramount when introducing generative AI tools, regardless of the constituency group,” said Tom Andriola, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Data and Chief Digital Officer at UC Irvine. “We will increase our efforts to be transparent about how the tool works and spread the message that faculty and staff will not access ZotGPT queries.”
Michael Dennin, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, expands on ZotGPT’s dual goals of protecting both student and faculty interests. “On one hand, faculty can still determine whether ZotGPT or any generative AI resource can be used for coursework in their class. We are treating it like any tool, much like the graphing calculator. On the other hand, the data is secured. Students can be confident that their data is not used or accessed by anyone at UC Irvine or any technology partners.”
The OVPTL Generative AI Advisory Group has published various materials that encourage faculty to consider both the promise and the perils of generative AI in the classroom.
The launch of ZotGPT represents an exciting milestone in the legitimacy and adoption of generative AI usage in higher education. As a newly released generative AI service that relies on everchanging information, updates to ZotGPT and its functionality are promised to come. In addition to ZotGPT, UC Irvine has also partnered with third-party vendors to bring their AI services to faculty, staff and students, including Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and Zoom AI; highlighting our commitment to being a model university in the usage of generative AI.
For more information on ZotGPT and UC Irvine’s generative AI usage guidelines for faculty and students, visit the ZotGPT website.
Tracy Charles Takes First Place with DocuSign Idea
Photo credit: Elizabeth Beach for UCI By: Office of Data and Information Technology
On June 4th, the ANTrepreneur Center was abuzz with innovation as UCI held its much-anticipated Spring Forward Campaign Finale, a featured event of the Work Reimagined 2.0 initiative. This initiative is a testament to UCI’s commitment to fostering an environment where every employee feels encouraged and empowered to propose ideas that enhance efficiency across departments, units, and schools. Work Reimagined 2.0 focuses on various avenues such as saving dollars, avoiding costs, saving time, and generating revenue.
The Spring Forward campaign challenged the UCI campus to submit their time-saving ideas, and throughout the course of the campaign, 108 ideas were submitted. The Campaign Finale provided a platform for the top three finalists to present their solutions in an exciting, Shark Tank-inspired competition. The afternoon saw presentations filled with ingenuity, creativity, and a shared goal of making UCI more efficient.
The star of the event was Tracy Charles, a Graduate Affairs Analyst for the School of Social Sciences. Tracy’s innovative idea involved utilizing DocuSign to digitize and streamline the process of sending written notices of approvals to student workers, a process many UCI offices must complete quarterly. Her department transformed what was previously a labor-intensive task into an efficient digital process using DocuSign Webforms and Document Generation. For her winning idea, Tracy was awarded a $1000 STAR Award and a trophy, commemorating her efforts to boost efficiency at UCI.
Marianne Smith, Senior Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, and Kim Sadler Abbey, Director of Financial Operations, were recognized as runners-up. Smith’s pitch focused on increasing efficiency in corporate and foundation relations, while Abbey championed the adoption of a new budgeting tool for the campus. Both received $500 STAR Awards and trophies, highlighting their valuable contributions.
The event was hosted by Work Reimagined 2.0 sponsors Tom Andriola, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Data, and Ramona Agrela, Vice Chancellor for Human Resources. The panel of judges included Pramod Khargonekar, Vice Chancellor for Research, Kate Brigman, Associate Provost and Chief of Staff for Office of the Provost, Errol Arkilic, Chief Innovation Officer, Patty Morales, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Louis Gill, Senior Director for Undergraduate Housing Residential Life. Their insights and thoughtful questions underscored the pioneering spirit that UCI is known for.
As the event concluded, the excitement for future competitions was palpable. The Work Reimagined 2.0 team promised continued support for all proposals and announced a forthcoming competition in the fall, leaving the audience inspired and eager to contribute to UCI’s ongoing journey of innovation.
Dean Miller was influential in shaping the development of ClassChat, and in fall 2024 pilot-tested the program in his course titled Visual Studies 295, Modernism & Avant Garde,” a graduate-level art history seminar marked by advanced discussion and rigorous coursework. Speaking about his ClassChat pilot, Dean Miller emphasized the practical benefits he had envisioned from the service, citing that the curated textual corpus would potentially allow students to access relevant information and connections across advanced, graduate-level texts with greater levels of accuracy and course relevance than had they used general-information AI chatbots. While the tool demonstrated some success in certain tasks, in general his class concluded that it needs further development and fine-tuning to be appropriate for graduate-level management of information, particularly in a discipline like art history where both texts and images are involved. In the coming months, as the tool is rolled out to a variety of disciplines and levels of rigor, it is expected that the specificity and variability of its use cases will continue to be honed and enhanced.
