Claude Frequently Asked Questions

As a next step in the University of Chicago’s overall approach to artificial intelligence, the University is partnering with Anthropic to provide Claude Enterprise for all faculty, other academic appointees, postdoctoral researchers, and staff starting in July, and for all students before Autumn Quarter. Claude Chat, Cowork, and Code will be made available to the University community through this effort.

Claude is an AI platform, developed by Anthropic, that offers a chat tool that can summarize information, assist with writing, and answers questions; an agent tool that can automate routine tasks and support collaborative work environments; and a coding tool that can build applications and sophisticated workflows:

• Claude Chat: This core AI functionality enables interactive, natural language conversations via a chat interface. Users can ask questions, request information to be summarized, generate creative content, and query information, making it a helpful tool for everyday tasks.
• Claude Cowork: Designed for collaborative work environments, Cowork integrates Claude into platforms like Slack and Google Drive, empowering groups to brainstorm ideas, organize projects, automate routine tasks, and manage workflows with AI-driven efficiency and seamless teamwork.
• Claude Code: Tailored for technical users and developers, Claude Code provides advanced support for programming. It assists with code generation, bug fixing, documentation, and learning new coding concepts, streamlining software development with AI capabilities.

The University of Chicago is committed to providing our faculty, students, researchers, and staff with access to impactful and emerging technologies that support excellence in research, teaching, and operations. Many individual faculty members already have been using Claude as a research tool. The University’s agreement with Anthropic provides greater overall value than individual plans, producing savings that help offset the cost to the University. As stewards of the University’s resources, we carefully consider the needs of our institution and the technology that our community requires, which informs the decision to pursue this service and all services we provide.

Yes, a comprehensive suite of training and other demonstrations is available in a variety of formats (e.g., live sessions, on-demand modules, and peer-to-peer learning) to help you learn how to use Claude for workplace, academic, and research needs. Training will be tailored for both beginners and advanced users as well as for different audiences. Anthropic will also provide additional onboarding and training modules to help you become proficient with Claude.

Faculty, other academic appointees, postdocs, and staff now have access to Claude. UChicago students will receive access before the start of the Autumn Quarter. Those interested in receiving updates about Claude and information about upcoming training sessions can sign up for the mailing list.

Faculty, other academic appointees, postdocs, and staff can activate their Claude account by completing the request form. Information about student access will be available in the coming months.

Many BSD and UCM faculty and staff work with protected health information (PHI) and research health information (RHI).

BSD and UCM will take the following approach to continue to meet obligations related to patient privacy, research integrity, and regulatory compliance:

• For BSD employees, the University is providing HIPAA Claude, a more limited version of the product that has additional safeguards for sensitive health data, for those who work with PHI or RHI. You should request access to HIPAA Claude if you plan to use the platform to work with PHI or RHI.
• The University-operated Claude environment is not available to UCM employees who are not part of BSD; the health system is assessing the potential for a separate agreement with Anthropic that aligns with healthcare and regulatory requirements.

Anthropic does not support Claude personal account migration to the University's Enterprise account because it is HIPAA-enabled. This applies to any account covered by the Enterprise agreement, whether it's the full version of Claude Enterprise or the HIPAA-compliant version. You do not need to close your Claude personal account, but you may want to downgrade to a free license and use it as a reference. View the available options for maintaining your personal account. 

No. Claude Chat, Cowork, and Code will be provided at no cost with a generous usage limit. Upgraded premium access will be available at a reduced cost.

Similar to other critical University systems, access to Claude will be protected with Okta and Duo. Anthropic will not use data that UChicago community members input to Claude or create with it for any purpose other than providing the services to the University, including training any AI models. More broadly, you can read more about Anthropic’s guidelines, testing and data privacy protections on its website.

Protecting sensitive data is a priority for the University. All University personnel are responsible for the data they input into Claude or any other AI tool. University personnel should not use Claude with sensitive or confidential information without approval from the appropriate University office. If you have questions about whether a proposed use is acceptable, you should contact the appropriate University office.

For administrative uses of Claude that involve sensitive data, University personnel should contact the relevant data steward for your unit to confirm that the use is permitted. Researchers that want to use Claude should work with their IRB, if applicable, and review any data use agreements to make sure such use is permitted. Data at SRDS-Moderate SRDS-High protection levels require further discussion. Performing research on institutional data (e.g. proprietary research data, student information, unpublished academic work), requires additional steps to uphold the University's confidentiality obligations. Details are provided on the Data Stewardship Council's website.

Similar to other services, the University owns the Claude Enterprise account and has access to compliance and audit tools that can access content for defined, governed purposes, such as a security investigation, a legal hold, or response to a policy violation under the supervision of the Office of Legal Counsel, governed under the "Information Technology Resources and Account Privacy Policy." This access is limited to very few administrators and is closely monitored by Information Security. Anthropic does not use University data to train its models (see answer to question “How will the University protect data and other information shared by UChicago users with Claude?”).

Yes. A tool like Claude requires diligence and thoughtful, informed judgment, and the University will provide further information and training to address this.

No, there is no University-wide requirement. The tools will be available to you, should you choose to use them, and many University offices already have worked on AI with staff to improve workflows and help tackle important challenges. Your creativity and judgment are essential in identifying productive and appropriate uses of AI tools. In many organizations, administrative staff have found that tools like Cowork make everyday tasks easy to perform. Staff involved in providing analytic support may find that the use of Claude Code can help them gather information and provide analysis more quickly and effectively.

The University’s Claude account will provide generous usage for everyday work. Standard seats offer approximately twice the usage limit of a personal Claude Pro plan. Premium seats, which are comparable to a Claude Max 5x plan, offer more usage limits and are intended for heavier users working in Claude Code. Limits will reset on a rolling basis, and actual capacity varies with the length and complexity of work. Premium seats incur a $550 annual charge to a valid financial account. To request a premium license, please submit the Claude Enterprise Premium License Request form.

Custom assistants can be rebuilt as Claude Projects, which hold documents and instructions and can be shared (see answer to question “Can I create custom agents or assistants in Claude, similar to what is possible in PhoenixAI?). For Claude Code, there will be training available for non-developers that cover this topic, including how to keep confidential material out of tools, handling local and cloud folders responsibly, and following the data-classification guidance for what information may be entered.

The University's standard and premium seat licenses are designed for human use through the Claude interface (Chat, Cowork, and Code), and they do not include an API key for programmatic access. More details on API access will be available in the coming months.

Yes, connectors for Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel are available as part of the University's Claude environment. The Outlook connector is still in Beta and not enabled. Learn more about connectors in UChicago Claude Enterprise and view the full list of available connectors.

Several connectors are now available (e.g., Microsoft, Google, GitHub, Slack, Dropbox, Adobe, and Canva) for UChicago Claude Enterprise accounts. In addition, connectors for data sources such as PubMed, arXiv, and Morningstar are also available. View the full list of available connectors. Please note that Box and Zoom connectors are coming soon.

All enterprise applications (e.g., Microsoft, Google, Box, Zoom) that offer connectors go through a rigorous review process. IT Services prioritizes connectors for enterprise systems where the University already has strong data protection agreements in place.

Requests for additional third-party connectors will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and approval will depend on the data protection terms of the University's agreement with the connector provider. To submit a request for additional third-party connectors and data sources, submit the ServiceNow Request Form.

At this time, the Fable 5 model is only available to people with Premium Claude licenses. 

Yes, members of the University of Chicago community have the option to use alternative generative AI tools per the University’s Relevant Policies for the Use of AI Tools. There is no requirement to use Claude exclusively. PhoenixAI is still available for the University community.

PhoenixAI is not being discontinued as part of this Claude implementation. Both PhoenixAI and Claude will be available to the University community, and there is no requirement to switch to Claude. The University will monitor usage over time and communicate any future changes. In the meantime, members of the community can continue using PhoenixAI as they do today.

Yes, Claude's equivalent of a custom assistant is called a Project. You can create a Project, populate it with documents and instructions, and share it with specific people. This is functionally similar to creating a custom assistant in PhoenixAI and is a supported way to share institutional knowledge, style guides, or specialized workflows with colleagues. For more information about Projects, including how to set them up and manage sharing permissions, see What are projects? in the Claude Help Center.

A good first step is to talk with the leadership in your office. You can also contact claude-feedback@uchicago.edu.

Supporting world-class research is central to UChicago’s mission, and the University is committed to ensuring faculty have access to the tools and resources they need to pursue their work at the highest level. President Alivisatos’ message to the community on June 2 highlighted the University’s commitment to deepening the support for research with AI across disciplines, and announced the formation of a Faculty Committee for AI and Academic Life, chaired by William Hubbard, Clifton R. Musser Professor of Law and Economics, which will serve as an important advisor on AI implementation during the coming year. Training opportunities specific to research uses of Claude are also forthcoming. Faculty interested in being notified as resources are available can sign up here.

The University is committed to supporting faculty and academics as they navigate AI use in the classroom. President Alivisatos announced the formation of a Faculty Advisory Committee on AI and Education, chaired by Emily Lynn Osborn, Associate Professor of History and the College. More information about that group’s work will be shared as it develops.

In the meantime, there will be forthcoming training opportunities that cover a range of topics related to instructional use, including, for example, how Claude can help academics prepare for classes. The Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning continues to be a critical resource for faculty in exploring best practices in this work.

Instructors can contact the Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning for guidance on how generative AI tools intersect with academic honesty. Please consult the Academic Honesty and Plagiarism information in the Student Manual for further details on this University policy.