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.

All eligible faculty, other academic appointees, postdocs, staff, and students now have access to Claude. View the Claude Enterprise eligibility list. 

All eligible University community members must submit a request to activate their Claude account.

View instructions for faculty, other academic appointees, postdocs, and staff and instructions for students on claiming your Claude account.

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.

The University’s Statute 18 states that “Where research or other activities carried out at the University, or with substantial aid of its facilities or funds administered by it, result in inventions, discoveries, or device-like software, such intellectual property shall be disclosed to the University, and shall be the property of the University from inception.” Currently, while determinations will be made on a case-by-case basis, permitted usage of the University’s Claude Enterprise account, without the use of additional University resources, would not generally be considered "substantial aid." Questions may be directed to the Polsky Center via polskylicensing@uchicago.edu.

Faculty, other academic appointees, postdocs, staff, and students can activate their Claude account following these instructions.

All BSD faculty and staff requesting a Claude account must complete An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence at UCM training. This also applies to Pritzker School of Medicine and other BSD students who participate in clinical research or clinical care. Basic scientists who believe the training requirement does not apply to their work may request an exemption by contacting BSD_AI_Inquiry@bsd.uchicago.edu.

In addition, HIPAA Claude users will be sent a short survey to better understand their intended use.

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.

BSD Faculty and Staff: Yes. All BSD faculty and staff who request access to Claude must complete the 15-minute training module An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence at UCM, which is found in Workday. Basic scientists with no access to health data or sensitive personal information who believe the training requirement does not apply to their work may request an exemption by emailing BSD_AI_Inquiry@bsd.uchicago.edu. Even if you qualify for an exemption, we encourage you to complete the brief training because it provides a valuable introduction to AI, responsible use, privacy, and security considerations.

Pritzker School of Medicine and BSD Students: Pritzker School of Medicine students are required to complete An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence at UCM. Other BSD students who participate in research or clinical care at UChicago Medicine are also required to complete the training.

Students should also review and follow the generative AI policies and requirements applicable to their school, program, courses, research, and clinical activities.

BSD users who are required to take the 15-minute AI training and do not do so within two weeks (or have not requested an exemption) will have their Claude access temporarily suspended. Access can be restored after the required training has been completed. Basic scientists who receive an approved exemption are not subject to this requirement.

Students who are required to complete the UCM AI training should follow the requirements communicated by their school or program.

Claude Enterprise is the University's full Claude platform and is appropriate for most teaching, research and administrative work. It includes Claude Chat, Cowork, and Code. HIPAA Claude is a more limited version involving Claude Chat. It has additional safeguards for sensitive health data and is intended for work involving PHI or RHI.

Yes. Students must follow University policies as well as any generative AI policies and requirements established by their school, program, course, research group, mentor, committee, or clinical site.

For Masters and PhD students, BSD's Guidance on Generative AI Use establishes minimum division-wide standards for generative AI use in coursework, examinations, research, and scholarly writing. Pritzker School of Medicine students should follow the Pritzker Policy on the Use of AI in Medical Education.

Students should pay particular attention to requirements governing sensitive information. Claude Enterprise is not approved for use with Protected Health Information (PHI) or Research Health Information (RHI), and students should not enter sensitive or restricted information into an AI tool unless that tool has been specifically approved for that use.

If you requested the incorrect version of Claude, you may ask to have your account access updated. Requests for changes to the same account will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. To request a switch, contact BSD_AI_Inquiry@bsd.uchicago.edu. The University will not be providing a second account to any users.

The University’s Statute 18 states that “Where research or other activities carried out at the University, or with substantial aid of its facilities or funds administered by it, result in inventions, discoveries, or device-like software, such intellectual property shall be disclosed to the University, and shall be the property of the University from inception.” Currently, while determinations will be made on a case-by-case basis, permitted usage of the University’s Claude Enterprise account, without the use of additional University resources, would not generally be considered "substantial aid." Questions may be directed to the Polsky Center via polskylicensing@uchicago.edu.

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, including training any AI models, other than providing the services to the University. 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.

The "Can I use this data in Claude?" guide helps the campus community understand what data is generally permitted, what warrants a conversation with a data steward first, and what data should not go into Claude at all.

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.

For more information, please visit 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?”).

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 $600 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?"). 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 retiring on December 18 as part of the University’s transition to Claude Enterprise. On that date, PhoenixAI will shut down, access to the platform will end, and your chats, projects and files will no longer be available. There is no requirement to switch to Claude, but if you would like to keep your chat or project history, review the PhoenixAI export and Claude setup instructions to guide you through the process.  

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 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.

No. The University’s IT Services Acceptable Use Policy states that “The use of University information technology resources should be for purposes consistent with the University’s missions and with its policies and legal requirements (including license agreements and terms of service) and not for commercial purposes.”

In addition, Claude may not be used to build a competing AI product, reverse engineer Claude, or generate synthetic or artificial data for public use. Users must use Claude in accordance with Anthropic’s User Guide.

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.