KU Communicators

Close up of "Kansas" on Strong Hall

Guidance for KU Communicators

As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies continue to evolve, they offer new opportunities to support communications work activities. AI tools can help KU Communicators save time and increase performance. This page is intended to offer guidance and resources to University of Kansas Communicators.

Overview

Artificial intelligence tools have been part of work life for years, including tools such as Grammarly. More recently, generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini have introduced new ways to support writing, editing, data analysis, problem solving, and the creation of images, video and music.

It may be helpful for KU Communicators to think of AI in two ways:

  1. Using AI to help complete your work
  2. How to optimize your unit's work for AI tools other people might be using. For example, how to enhance your website's discoverability by AI.

Before getting started, it's important to remember that Copilot is the only approved GenAI platform approved for use with KU data — and only when you are logged in to Copilot. Never submit KU data to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or other platforms.

If you have suggestions or questions related to AI use in your communications role at KU, contact the Office of Public Affairs (kucoms@ku.edu).

What is Generative AI?

Generative AI creates text, images, code, and other content based on instructions or prompts provided in natural language. With tools such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini, users interact by asking questions or issuing commands much as they would when communicating with another person. The system then generates a response.

Generative AI relies on large language models, which analyze vast amounts of text to identify patterns and calculate the probability of word sequences. This process, often called training, allows AI tools to produce responses that can sound human like. However, these systems do not understand content in the way people do; they generate outputs by predicting patterns based on their training data.

All content — written, photos, videos, etc. — must be truthful and of high quality. AI may be helpful as part of the process, such as generating ideas, copyediting, making nominal image corrections, producing first drafts of captions, etc. 

If AI is used at any point in the creative process, the final deliverable must meet all KU standards, guidelines, and policies, as well as applicable regulations and laws. It is the responsibility of the person creating and distributing content to make sure standards are met.

Potential Use Cases

What can AI do for KU Communicators? While there are many potential uses, it is unlikely that AI can perform the core functions of your role; however, it may be able to accelerate your work, alleviate some of your more basic and recurring work, and enhance your work.

Potential Use Cases

Communicators could ask for AI's assistance in conceiving a campaign strategy, creative ideas, suggesting tactics to match strategies, content topics, and more. AI can create storyboards, proofs of concept, exemplar drafts, and more.

You could use AI to study a market or target audience or perform competitive research.

Communicators can use AI to help think of, sequence and describe all the tasks necessary for an event, marketing campaign, or other initiative. If available, you can supply the AI tool with your strategy or brief, and certainly your goals and target dates. Beyond a simple task list, AI can help you manage items with long lead times, determine workstreams that need to run concurrently, establish dependencies, suggest milestones, identify potential risks, and put real dates to the work. 

Similar to the above planning use case, AI can assist with estimating a budget in terms of dollars and time. You can supply it with historical data, if available. Going further, it can project an ROI and make suggestions on where to invest to increase results or save money.

This could include results data from marketing efforts, student recruitment, list management, website traffic, user behavior, and more.

Just as you ask coworkers for their feedback on ideas, for information, to review your draft work, etc, you can also ask AI for help with such tasks. You can ask it how to improve your draft copy to better get the results you want from your target audience. You can ask AI to be a secret shopper on your website, as if it were a member of a certain demographic group or target audience.

AI can help you create a content calendar, taking advantage of key KU dates, important dates in your field, holidays, and more. You can provide AI with your busy and slow times, and even other calendars, such as the KU Marketing brand messaging calendar, to help align your work with that of others.

When you're ready to turn that news release into content for social media, newsletters, presentations, audio, and other forms of media, AI is great at repurposing content. Using AI can save time and increase performance by optimizing your content for each channel, like considering SEO in your web content and a mention and hashtag strategy in your social posts.

AI can help with accessibility in several ways. You can use it to review and, in some cases, remediate webpages and digital to meet accessibility requirements. (Although AI should not be considered as the definitive authority on accessibility.) AI can be very strong at writing captions and descriptive audio for video and audio files.

Knowing how to improve search rankings of webpages is challenging and time consuming. AI can help evaluate pages and suggest recommendations for improvements.

Use AI to help manage your email communications. Tell it who you met with, the topic of your meeting, your desired tone, and your proposed next steps. AI can take it from there. Follow-up emails also can be a breeze with AI. Email management in Outlook is a particularly good use case for agentic AI available through an expanded CoPilot license.

Want to turn that table of data into an interesting graphic? Load the data into AI, give it some additional tone and branding guidance, and ask it to show you some infographic ideas.

Ask AI to suggest email subject lines, ad headlines, webpage H1 and H2 tags, and more. Tell it your audience, tactic, service area, and style and branding guidelines. Ask AI to optimize messages for your communication or marketing goal. The more you use AI, the more you'll learn and be inspired by AI's ideas.

AI Tools Broadly Available at KU

  • Microsoft Copilot is the enterprise AI platform at the University of Kansas. Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 can have Copilot AI integrated within them with the proper licensing. Visit KU IT's How to KU website for more information. 
  • If you operate the Adobe Creative Suite or one of the applications within it, you have access to Firefly. This is Adobe's native, or embedded, AI tool. More information is available on Adobe's Firefly Overview webpage. KUMC employees should reference information specific to your organization.
  • Google applications, such as Google Docs, Google Analytics, and others, feature Gemini AI. KUMC employees should reference information specific to your organization.
  • Some limited-use applications, including Meltwater, Zoom, and social media platforms, have native AI functionality.
  • Free tools are generally available to help you understand the AI discoverability of your unit based on your webpages. These include:

Note: Copilot is the only approved GenAI platform approved for use with KU data — and only when you are logged in to Copilot. Never submit KU data to other platforms.

Applicable Laws, Policies, and Guidance

Existing laws and KU policies and guidance apply to work and the product of that work when using AI. Same rules, new tools. The following may be the most relevant. They are listed with an example; however, the breadth of ways to use AI and possible applications of the law or policy are much greater. 

You are responsible for any published work product in which you used AI, just as you are responsible for your work in which AI was not used. Please check the accuracy and compliance (and quality) of all work before distribution of its deliverables.

  • Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 41–58) states that marketing must be truthful and substantiated. 
    • Example: You ask AI to suggest attention-grabbing headlines and it writes one saying your unit has the best student-to-teacher ratio in the Midwest. You can't use that headline in an ad without otherwise confirming its truth.
  • Kansas Consumer Protection Act (K.S.A. § 50-623) makes deception or misrepresentation unlawful in connection to the sale of products or services. 
    • Example: You ask AI to generate an image of your unit's lab space, and it adds features and equipment that don't actually exist in any of your labs. Using that image could be considered deceptive.
  • KU Data Classification and Handling Procedures Guidance specifies how data should be protected based on the information's type, importance and usage. 
    • Example: Your unit's leader wants slides describing your student body. You load a data set that includes names, home addresses, demographics, financial aid, grades, and more and ask ChatGPT to analyze that data and turn it into infographics for a PowerPoint. This is a potential FERPA violation. Instead of ChatGPT, log in and use CoPilot.
  • KU Privacy Policy, General specifies requirements regarding information entrusted to the university by the public and members of the KU community. 
    • Example: You are working on a student retention initiative and upload to ChatGPT a spreadsheet of student data, including their current grades and demographic information. You ask the AI to find patterns and tell you which students are at the highest risk of stopping out. This is a potential FERPA violation because ChatGPT is not a secure platform. Log in and use CoPilot instead.
  • KU Acceptable Use of Electronic Information Resources outlines the expectations for the use of electronic information resources, including respecting copyright. 
    • Example: You ask AI to help create a Tik Tok video using text and images you supply. It adds music, but you don't verify whether the music is copyright protected. When creating videos with music, only upload music files that you know meet legal requirements.
  • KU Technology Purchases: Basics and How to Buy specifies that purchases of technology hardware, software and cloud services must be done in partnership with KU IT and Procurement.
    • Example: There is a popular new AI tool used by marketers. It's way better than the enterprise AI tools from KU and is only a $50/month subscription, so you just put it on your PCard. All technology purchases must go through the technology procurement process and be vetted by KU IT.
  • KU Trademark Licensing Policy provides information and guidelines regarding the use of the university’s logos and other trademarks.
    • Example: Your unit is hosting a community activity and your unit leader wants a special Jayhawk that looks like a kid wearing the adult-sized garb of your school's profession. Creating AI-generated images of trademark or copyrighted logos, icons or other images violates intellectual property laws, as well as KU's Trademark Policy and Branding Policy.
  • KU Branding Policy outlines rules for correct and consistent use of the university brand positioning, branding platform, and visual identity standards. 
    • Example: Your unit created a new lecture series for KU employees that is also open to the public. You want it to be distinct and memorable, so you ask AI to make a logo for your KU website, unit newsletter and social media. Making new logos for KU business purposes is generally not allowed.
  • U.S. Copyright Office: Copyright & Artificial Intelligence states that most content created using generative AI does not qualify for copyright protection. 
    • Example: You upload notes from talking with your unit leader to CoPilot and ask it to draft a speech for the leader to deliver at a conference. The speech likely does not qualify for copyright protection and others could use the speech verbatim in its entirety.

Disclosure of AI Use

Because it is common in many creative activities to use assistive technology and assets (e.g., Photoshop, stock photos, etc.), disclosure of AI use is generally not required, except when AI-generated content may lead to confusion or deception. 

  • Example: A story about the historical impact of presidential actions on higher education is illustrated with an AI-generated image of Dwight D. Eisenhower on the KU campus. Use of AI to generate the image should be disclosed.

KU Communicators, in consultation with their unit leaders, may choose to disclose the use of AI in the generation of content. It is not required to disclose the use of AI, except in cases where audiences are likely to be confused or feel significantly deceived by its use.

Regardless of whether use of AI is disclosed, any use of AI must follow applicable laws, policies and guidance. 

KUMC communicators should also comply with the Web Governance Policy (log in required).

Ethical Considerations

Use of AI

As with all communications, use of AI must meet general and professional ethical standards and practices. Established expectations for integrity and ethics don't change when new tools are introduced.

Though not wholly inclusive of ethical considerations, the APLU Council on Strategic Communications provides the following guidance in an August 2026 report [PDF]: 

  • Never fabricate quotes, attributions, or statements and present them as real.
  • Never publish AI-generated research findings, data, or citations without independent verification and attribution.
  • Never create or alter documentary or news imagery in ways that misrepresent what actually happened.
  • Never use AI to imitate a real person’s voice, likeness, or identity.

AI Tools in General

Some people raise ethical questions about AI itself, apart from how it is used. These concerns are broad and rapidly moving, and opinions vary. As a starting point, here are some ethical considerations that have received widespread attention:

  • Intellectual property misuse or theft in training AI models
  • Bias in AI's training and, therefore, the outputs it creates 
  • Contributing to the negative effects of additional energy, water, and land consumption
  • Creating false, misleading, or deceptive information using GenAI tools
  • Misusing or making vulnerable sensitive data by uploading to insecure AI tools

In addition to their own views on AI and the views of their unit leaders and their teams, KU Communicators should consider how their audience might view use of AI.

Training and Additional Resources

Microsoft Copilot is KU's enterprise AI tool and is the place to start for KU employees. The KU IT How to KU website is the place to start for learning to use Copilot at KU. Microsoft offers a two-page summary of how Copilot can help marketers. 

Microsoft also has several online training workshops — both general and tailored for specific audiences and use cases — focus on Copilot's practical uses. These webinars' availability rotates, so if you don't see the session, check back in a few days. Following are recommended trainings for KU Communicators:

  1. Microsoft 365 Copilot Training: Explore Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
  2. Microsoft 365 Copilot Training: Get Started with Microsoft 365 Copilot and Agents
  3. Microsoft 365 Copilot Training for Marketing

Another good resource from Microsoft is the Using Copilot in Marketing scenario library.

HubSpot offers an AI for Marketing Course that covers the concepts and possibilities of AI in marketing, this is a good resource. Don't worry if you don't use HubSpot software; the training isn't specific to HubSpot and does not require a paid HubSpot account. The training is extensive and covers both AI discoverability and using AI to perform marketing work.

This training from RNL is specific to higher education, but not specific to communications and marketing. It is a good survey of AI in the post-secondary education environment. 

Adobe offers training for communications and marketing professionals who use Creative Cloud applications (beyond just Acrobat). 

If you use or regularly access Meltwater, consider this training. 

Additional AI-related training and information for communicators is available on the PRSA website.

Communications & Marketing AI Resources

How to Optimise for Google AI Overviews [Podcast]
The Digital Marketing Podcast

Effectively Leveraging AI in University Communications and Marketing [PDF]
APLU Council on Strategic Communications

General and Education-related AI Resources*

Artificial Intelligence Glossary 
by Adam Pasick. The New York Times (27 March 2023).

The bots are here to stay. Do we deny or do we adapt? 
by Doug Ward, Bloom’s Sixth, CTE blog (20 January 2023).

A Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights for Education 
by Kathryn Conrad. Critical AI (17 July 2023).

Exploring the reasoning and the potential of ChatGPT 
by Doug Ward, Bloom’s Sixth, CTE blog (5 February 2023).

A Generative AI Primer 
by Michael Webb. National Centre for AI (11 May 2023).

In the Age of A.I., Major in Being Human 
by David Brooks. New York Times (2 February 2023). Excellent advice for students on preparing for a career in an AI world. He recommends classes that help students write with a distinctive voice, improve their presentation skills, push their creativity, provide unusual worldviews, cultivate empathy, and develop situational awareness.

Research points to AI’s growing influence 
by Doug Ward. Bloom’s Sixth (4 August 2023).

National Centre for AI. A not-for-profit organization based in the U.K.

Welcome to AI in Education. A resource created by students at The University of Sydney.

What Is Artificial Intelligence? Gartner (n.d.). 

 

*Curated by KU Professor Doug Ward. Used with permission.