Do you work with sensitive data, such as budget spreadsheets, employee reviews, enrollment numbers, or student grades?
When you have an official need, you can now enter such information into two protected versions of Copilot that the university has approved for use with moderate- and high-risk UO data.
With proper data handling, employees can use these generative AI tools to securely analyze data, find errors, generate summaries, create presentations, and more.
Check for the green shield
Copilot Chat—Basic is the browser-based AI chatbot available at no cost to everyone at the UO—students, faculty, and staff. Before entering sensitive data, make sure you’re using UO’s protected version.
- Visit copilot.cloud.microsoft and sign in with your UO email address and password.
- Look for the green shield icon indicating enterprise data protection.
Premium version of Copilot
- Microsoft 365 Copilot—Premium is an AI assistant built into the Microsoft 365 apps, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
- It’s available to faculty and staff with a subscription.
Data handling requirements still apply
If you're authorized to access moderate-risk ("amber") or high-risk ("red") data, you may use Copilot as part of your work. You’re still responsible for:
- Protecting confidential information.
- Following access restrictions.
- Ensuring compliance with the UO's new acceptable use policy.
- Reviewing AI-generated content for accuracy before sharing or relying on it.
Why is Copilot approved?
Our two protected versions of Copilot are the only AI tools approved for use with moderate- and high-risk UO data.
- These approvals follow extensive engagement with numerous UO units and governance groups.
- Data you enter is protected and isn’t used to train AI models.
- The UO’s existing agreement with Microsoft provides extensive protections for information entered in these versions of Copilot—just like in SharePoint and other Microsoft services.
What about ChatGPT and Claude?
Through Copilot, you can use leading AI models to securely work with moderate- and high-risk data.
- Copilot Chat—Basic is currently powered by the GPT-5 family of models from OpenAI.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot—Premium currently offers access to Claude models (Sonnet and Opus) from Anthropic in addition to GPT-5 models.
However, the standalone ChatGPT and Claude applications—and other AI tools—are not approved for use with moderate- or high-risk UO data.
- The university doesn’t have data protection agreements for those other AI tools.
- Only low-risk (“green”) data is approved for use with those tools.
Learn more and get help
- Get started with Copilot:
- Learn about data classifications: Data Classification Quick Reference
- Get help: Microsoft Office 365 support request
- To subscribe to M365 Copilot—Premium: AI Subscription-based Licenses Request (faculty and staff only)