GenAI Dos and Don’ts

CSU to Become Nation’s First and Largest AI-Empowered University System

AI Commons - Tools and Information for CSU Students, Faculty, Staff and Alumni

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Do

  • Remain informed on California State University (CSU) and CSU Long Beach (CSULB) Generative AI (GenAI) guidelines, and uphold appropriate and responsible use of GenAI to augment existing work and increase productivity by improving efficiency and extending capacity.
  • Learn how to responsibly and ethically use GenAI tools, including generating quality prompts to help ensure accurate results that are free of error and implicit bias, and continue to familiarize yourself with GenAI tools and their functions.
  • CSU AI Training Opportunities. Join the discussion on AI related topics, attend an event or workshop specifically geared for Faculty, Staff and Students.
  • Use GenAI tools with commercial data protection, such as Copilot, and read the terms of service, focusing on data collection and privacy practices.
  • Ensure work done with GenAI is human-led, and be transparent about your use by openly citing your use of GenAI whenever possible.
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Don't

  • Upload personal, proprietary, or confidential information that could violate CSU Information Security Policy and Standards, state or federal privacy laws, including HIPAA (related to health and medical records, and FERPA, linked to student educational records), or expose CSU data (levels 1 and 2), when using GenAI.
  • Do not use or publish anything created with GenAI without reviewing for accuracy, CSULB editorial style and branding.
  • Do not use GenAI in confidential or sensitive meetings (California is a “two-party consent” state, meaning it is illegal to record a private conversation unless all parties consent to the recording, including digital recordings and transcripts, which specific GenAI tools can generate).
  • Assume all CSULB community members are using or know how to use GenAI to improve efficiency and enable capacity.
Elbee the shark with open hand gesture

Effective Practices

  • Acknowledge that distortions and biases are present in GenAI models and applications.
  • Use GenAI to spark ideas. 
  • Use GenAI to review workflows for error reduction potential, and consider moving repetitive, predictable work to GenAI.