MSU Extension Organizational Development

This resource serves as a resource to ensure ethical AI use while maintaining accuracy, transparency, and data compliance with MSU policies and best practices. This document will be updated as additional AI resources and guidance are learned.

For the purposes of this guidance, AI output is defined as anything that an AI tool generates. This may include response to a prompt or request, the result of an automation, or a specific edit made using an AI tool.

These pages include the general MSU Extension Guidance; additional guidance exists for youth and volunteers.

AI Guidance for Youth and Volunteers

There are supplemental guidance documents for youth and volunteers:

MSU Extension AI Guidance for 4-H Youth

The MSU Extension AI Guidance for 4-H Youth is designed to guide the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in Michigan 4-H activities while fostering ethical practices, developing youth skills and ensuring fairness across all project categories. It provides a foundation for navigating the evolving landscape of AI while fostering youth development and maintaining the integrity of Michigan 4-H programs. 

The MSU Extension AI Guidance for Volunteers is an FAQ will help volunteers, judges and staff support 4-H’ers in using AI safely, responsibly and in ways that keep the focus on learning and growth.

MSU Extension AI Guidance for Volunteers

This document serves as a resource to ensure ethical AI use while maintaining accuracy, transparency, and data compliance with MSU policies and best practices. This document will be updated as additional AI resources and guidance are learned.

Overview of Expectations when Using Artificial Intelligence:

• Be familiar with the MSU Guidelines for the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) Tools including understanding MSU’s acceptable use and institutional data
• The employee is responsible for and can be held accountable to decisions made based on AI output, AI information used and/or presented in their work, employment application materials, or similar.
• Ensure data privacy and security  
  • Do NOT import or share with AI any sensitive, confidential, or personally identifiable information such as personal details, participant info (e.g. name, contact information), or proprietary research.  If you want to use AI to analyze data sets, personally identifiable information must be removed before importing. 
  • Generative AI can safely process publicly available and non-sensitive data.  
  • If planning to use AI for data analysis on projects involving research with human subjects, include the planned use in your IRB application.
  • As a professional courtesy, the use of AI note taking or transcription apps during meetings should be disclosed. Be aware that all AI output of this nature is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
• Proofread and verify all output. If you are unable to check the accuracy of the output, it is not recommended that you use AI.
  • All meeting notes, output, and transcripts generated by AI must be reviewed for accuracy prior to any distribution.
  • Research key points to ensure accuracy – check names, title, quotations, numbers, statistics, events, etc.
  • Utilize evidence or research-based sites, sources, or tools, and subject matter experts to verify information.
  • Be aware that bias exists in AI generated content, consider how it could be showing up in the AI output you generate. Anything that reads as a statement of fact, especially as related to groups of people, should be reviewed and evaluated for bias.
• If an AI tool consistently generates biased outputs, do not use the output, and use the AI tool with caution.
• AI software applications which are not MSU approved, must be reviewed and approved by MSU IT prior to downloading or creating accounts. Even if approved, the individual MSU staff member is responsible for knowing how to effectively use and manage the tool in a secure way.
• Cite AI when what was produced was significantly derived from AI. Use the style guide of your publisher for citations and observe any publication policies related to AI.
• Certain AI tools only cause minor changes to an output or can be replicated by a non-generative AI tool. An example would be an image background remover in a tool such as Adobe Photoshop or Canva. In these cases, it is not necessary to publicly note when AI was used, however you may want to include AI in your output file name for future reference.
• Consult with Institute leadership and Michigan State University Information Technology (by submitting a ticket at ithelp.msu.edu) before creating any MSU Extension large language model, machine learning algorithm, neural network, CustomGPT, AI agent, or other artificial intelligence model utilizing MSU Extension data. General AI bots or tools should not be developed for external or outward facing use by the community.