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Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Updated
Generative AI Tools & Agents
• Passwords, credentials, and security details
• Export-controlled or otherwise legally restricted research, unless specifically approved
• Confidential collaborator or partner data, unless the NDA, data-use agreement, or MOU permits processing by the AI provider
• Highly sensitive PII, e.g. SSNs, financial-account data, health information, and similar identifiers
• Patentable or protectable intellectual property: detailed unpublished methods, know-how, trade secrets
• Proposal reviewer restrictions: most federal agencies strictly prohibit proposal reviewers from using generative AI tools during the proposal evaluation process, as these are confidential materials. Do not upload or share any portion of a proposal you have been asked to review by an external sponsor to an AI chatbot.
Agentic tools that can click, type, browse, and run commands on your behalf are still early and error-prone, and a single mistaken action could delete files, send messages, or expose data before you can stop it.
This does not apply to coding environments/IDEs.
PRODUCT | STATUS | DATA RETENTION | TRAIN ON USER DATA? | |
OpenAI ChatGPT | Allowed | 30 days | Settings → Data controls → turn off "Improve the model for everyone." | |
Anthropic Claude Claud Code | Allowed | 30 days | Settings → Privacy → turn off "Help improve Claude." | |
Gemini | Allowed | 3 days 1 Saved chats are kept for 3 months by default 1 | No Must use Bigelow email account (otherwise, opt-out is required) | |
Google Antigravity | Allowed | 0 | No Must use Bigelow email account (otherwise, data is used for training) | |
Microsoft Copilot | Allowed | 18 months (default) Deleting chats removes from account | copilot.microsoft.com → profile → Privacy → turn off "Model training on text." | |
Perplexity | Allowed | 30 days | Settings → Account → turn off "AI Data Retention." | |
Apple Intelligence | Allowed | Not Disclosed | No | |
Duck.ai | Allowed | 0 | No | |
DeepSeek | Prohibited | Indefinitely | Yes | |
OpenClaw | Prohibited | |||
Meta AI | Prohibited | Indefinitely | No full opt-out |
All authors should be cautious about using AI chatbots to help write proposals and articles, as authors could be accused of plagiarism if AI-generated text is presented as original work and/or copies existing text.
AI Tools in Meetings
PRODUCT | STATUS | DATA RETENTION | TRAIN ON USER DATA? |
Allowed | 30 days data 2 | No | |
Jamie AI | Allowed | NA | No |
Otter.ai | Prohibited | Depends on Plan | Yes |
Guidelines
- Only approved AI tools that record or transcribe meetings (and produce content based on those recordings) should be used during Bigelow-hosted meetings.
- If an AI meeting assistant is used during a Bigelow-hosted meeting, all participants, including those attending in a meeting room, need to be informed and consent to its use.
AI Wearables
AI wearable devices are not permitted at Bigelow Laboratory without prior written authorization from Laboratory leadership and appropriate notice and consent from anyone who may be recorded or otherwise affected.
Footnotes
1 Google Gemini Data Retention Details: Chats are kept for 3 months unless manually deleted. Deleted chats may be kept for up to 3 days. Chats that are reviewed by human reviewers my be retained for up to 3 years.
2 Zoom AI Data Retention Details: Meeting content used to generate AI meeting summaries can be retained by Zoom and third parties for up to 30 days; Meeting summaries generated by Zoom AI Companion are retained for 5 days; Meeting recordings are auto-deleted after 60 days; Meeting chat transcripts are auto-deleted after 60 days