General AI guidance for La Follette Students
UW-approved generative AI applications
While you may prefer Claude or ChatGPT, if you log into any of these with your NetID, your data will not be used to train their AI applications like those free public accounts do. You can access them all at the link above and bookmark them for easy future access:
- Google Gemini – It can summarize and write text, translate languages, answer questions, generate images and write code
- Microsoft 365 Copilot – Copilot Chat is available to all university students and employees as part of your UW–Madison Microsoft 365 account. When logged in with your NetID, you can use Copilot Chat on the web or within M365 apps like Word, Outlook, Excel and Teams
- NotebookLM – an AI-powered notebook designed to help you understand and work with your uploaded documents and other digital content. Ask questions about the source materials in your “notebook” to get summaries with citations and generate different types of content like study guides and audio overviews
- Zoom AI Companion – can automatically create meeting summaries, identify action items and quickly answer questions about what happened during meetings.
Considerations for effective AI use in your professional development
- Start with strong inputs: Define the task, audience, tone, constraints, and what “good” looks like. Provide real materials (job description, resume bullets, notes) so AI stays grounded and does not “hallucinate“
- Edit, edit, edit: Ask the AI for multiple versions, then refine with follow-up prompts. When you like a draft, ask the AI to critique it and improve the strongest option
- Use one of the UW-approved AI tools listed above
- Stay honest and follow employer guidance: If you don’t have a skill or credential, don’t put it on your materials
- Make sure the final draft sounds like you, not Gemini or Copilot!
The Expectation Gap
While employers increasingly look for AI readiness and transparency, students report limited formal instruction or workshops on how to apply AI ethically and effectively in their professional development according to a Spring 2026 research study by NACE.