The University of Michigan has announced the release of Go Blue, a new AI-powered mobile app that has been specially designed for the U-M community.
Developed by the Emerging Technology team in Information and Technology Services, Go Blue is now available for U-M students, faculty and staff to download from the iOS and Android app stores.
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The app provides U-M users with no-cost access to advanced AI large language models, enriched with a wealth of information about the university.
The app can answer natural language questions in the same way that popular GPT AI tools can — with the added benefit of also drawing from a vast knowledge base of information about U-M. As such, Go Blue can easily answer questions about campus news, events, coursework, dining menus and other university-specific topics.
Users can ask Go Blue questions using voice-to-text, learn which dining halls are serving their favorite meal, or take a photo and use the AI image recognition to analyze the image.
One major feature that sets Go Blue apart from commercial AI tools is its understanding of U-M data and its commitment to user privacy. When using Go Blue, no user data will ever be used to train AI models. Everything that is shared with Go Blue will remain private and stay within the U-M ecosystem.
Go Blue also was designed with WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards in mind, ensuring that all users, including those relying on screen readers and other assistive technologies, will be able to fully engage with its features.
The ITS Emerging Technology team has stressed that this release represents the first iteration of Go Blue, and there are plans to release new features and updates to the app every month. Those future releases will be driven by user feedback.
“I hope you will join me in taking great pride in the fact that no other university provides their community with such personalized AI tools that respect user privacy. And I truly believe that no other university can compete with an AI assistant built for and trained by the leaders and best,” said Ravi Pendse, vice president of information technology and chief information officer.
“As we release Go Blue, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to President (Santa J.) Ono and our university leadership for their ongoing commitment to providing innovative, accessible and equitable AI tools to our campus.”
