Dear instructors, dear students, dear employees who support teaching and learning,

 

For anyone working in research or education questions about artificial intelligence and its use have become part of our everyday academic lives. What influence will it have on how we acquire and share knowledge? What role will artificial intelligence play in providing forward-thinking higher education that prepares students to assume responsibility in a global, diverse, and digital knowledge-based society? At Freie Universität Berlin we want to take a critical approach to AI, while also helping to shape these changes.

Back in 2023 Freie Universität Berlin published its “Guidelines for the Use of AI-Based Systems and Tools in Teaching and Learning” to help university members navigate this topic and rolled out a wide-scale program for various target groups to develop their AI literacy.

In order to make it possible for our members to use AI in ways that ensure equity, accessibility, and compliance with data protection regulations, Freie Universität Berlin is providing its members with a central access point for generative AI called KI.Assist@FU that will be available from the 2025/2026 winter semester onward. KI.Assist@FU will offer users access to a broad spectrum of current language models while encouraging a critical and thoughtful approach to using AI.

The latest edition of the “Guidelines for the Use of AI-Based Systems and Tools in Teaching and Learning” will serve as a framework for all university members to responsibly use artificial intelligence in teaching and learning at Freie Universität Berlin, as this document includes legal, ethical, educational, and practical principles regarding this area.

University members require the knowledge and skills to safely and appropriately work with artificial intelligence. They need to understand the technology so that they can critically reflect on how they will use it and do so responsibly. That is why the E-Learning & E-Examinations Unit within FUB-IT’s Division of Teaching, Studying, and Research will be supporting instructors and students with a range of courses on how to best leverage this technology.

 

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• You can find information about AI and how it relates to teaching and learning here: https://www.ki.fu-berlin.de
• Guidelines for the Use of AI-Based Systems and Tools in Teaching and Learning: https://www.ki.fu-berlin.de/_dokumente/Guidelines-for-the-Use-of-AI-Based-Systems-and-Tools-in-Teaching-and-Learning.pdf
• Information on and access to the KI.Assist@FU chatbot: https://assist.ki.fu-berlin.de
• Training opportunities for instructors and students: https://www.ki.fu-berlin.de/ki-kompetenz

If you have any comments or questions you can contact the KI@FU team at ki@fu-berlin.de for further information.

By creating a clear framework for using AI, offering courses on how to effectively and responsibly use it, and opening up access to artificial intelligence under equitable and legally compliant terms, we as a university community are developing answers, step-by-step, to the questions mentioned above. We will continue to explore and produce solutions together on how to use artificial intelligence in teaching and learning in a critical and sustainable manner.

 

Sincerely,

 

Sven Chojnacki

Vice President