Are you keeping UNSW’s data safe through careful use of AI?

To ensure UNSW's data security, avoid sharing sensitive information with public or freely available AI platforms.

All UNSW staff should use their unique zID to access Microsoft Copilot with Commercial Data Protection, for confidential, anonymised conversations. This endorsed tool provides protections for personal and University data, including names, contact details, financials and health records.

Microsoft Copilot with Commercial Data Protection provides an extra layer of privacy and data protection appropriate for general use across the University. When staff sign in to Copilot using their zID, all conversations are encrypted, confidential, anonymised and not stored or used for training purposes. Since this product does not store data or use it for training, it can be used with confidence, unlike other publicly available tools.

Chatbots, such as ChatGPT, or personal Copilot accounts may use the data given by users to train and improve their AI models. Chatbot conversations are typically stored for future review and are accessed by the platform operators to ensure compliance with legal and safety obligations. Chatbot conversations may also be used to improve the platform’s underlying AI model and can be incorporated into the training data used in responding to enquiries. 

When using these publicly available or free tools, you should assume these conversations are not private and any information you provide has the potential to become public later. 

In that context, do not share or upload sensitive UNSW data with public or free platforms. If you'd like to learn more and have question, please contact our AI working group.