FOA Efficiency Series Explores Practical AI Tools for Working at UC Davis
FOA staff members shared practical uses of artificial intelligence that can save time and improve routine work tasks during the second session of the FOA Efficiency Series, held May 20.
The “AI Practical Use Cases” webinar highlighted several AI tools available to UC Davis employees, including Microsoft Copilot Chat, Zoom AI Companion, ChatGPT and NotebookLM — along with technology guidance geared specifically for FOA staff members.
“This series is … a recurring opportunity for all of us in FOA to get together and share the different tools and solutions that we’re using to be more efficient in our work,” said Alicia Webber of Administrative Innovation and Technology, who facilitated the session.
Watch this webinar's video
You can watch the webinar video from the FOA Efficiency Series on AI Use Cases on YouTube.
Jump to video sections for a specific AI tool or speaker:
- Welcome - Alicia Webber, Administrative Innovation and Technology.
- Overview: AI at UC Davis - Andrey Furmuzan, FOA Business Partners.
- Zoom AI Companion - Kim Stephens, Admin IT.
- Microsoft Copilot in Outlook - Andrey Furmuzan, FOA Business Partners.
- ChatGPT and NotebookLM - BreAnda Northcutt, FOA Communications.
Explore slides and other resources from the FOA Efficiency Webinars, hosted by the Administrative Innovation and Technology team.
More than 100 people attended the webinar, which included survey questions along the way to gauge listeners' familiarity with the various tools. The first question asked participants how often they use AI in their work, with responses ranging from daily (34%) to never (19%).
“The good news is, regardless of your experience, you’re going to learn something today,” Webber said.
Understanding AI tools at UC Davis
Andrey Furmuzan of FOA Business Partners provided an overview of UC Davis-approved AI tools and explained the differences between enterprise and paid platforms.
He walked through the various Aggie AI tools and IET guidance for campus users. Free to use with your UC Davis computing account are:
- Google Gemini
- Microsoft Copilot Chat
- NotebookLM
- Zoom AI Companion
- Rocky AI Chat for answering UC Davis-specific questions
- AI tools integrated into SiteFarm for website management
Paid licenses are also available to UC Davis employees for:
- Adobe Firefly
- ChatGPT Edu
- Office Copilot (Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.)
He encouraged employees to explore the tools to determine which best fits their work style and needs, noting that tools integrated with Microsoft files or Google files may influence your preferences.
Furmuzan reminded employees to follow UC Davis data protection guidelines when using AI tools and to avoid uploading sensitive information. He also encouraged anyone using AI as a UC Davis employee to take the 30-minute AI essentials at UC Davis course, available in the Learning Management System.
Using Zoom AI to improve meetings
Kim Stephens of Admin IT explained how Zoom AI Companion can help employees stay engaged during meetings while reducing administrative burdens — and invited participants to try out its tools during the webinar. (Watch the Zoom AI Companion demonstration from the webinar.)
“Zoom AI Companion is a set of tools that really helps you focus on the conversation instead of the administration piece of the meeting,” she said.
The session showed how employees can use Zoom AI Companion to generate meeting summaries, identify action items and create searchable meeting records.
She also pointed out ways this tool could save time for a group, when someone shows up late or might otherwise need a personalized catch-up. Before asking the group to pause and help, the individual could ask the tool for assistance first.
She also reminded attendees that AI meeting tools should not be used for conversations involving sensitive or protected information – and if a meeting turns into personnel matters, then you should turn off the AI tool.
Using Copilot to manage email and calendars in Outlook
Furmuzan also demonstrated Microsoft Copilot in Outlook, showing how the AI tool can help employees manage email and calendars more efficiently.
During his live demonstration of Copilot in Outlook, Furmuzan showed how Copilot can summarize lengthy email threads, identify action items and help draft responses — particularly useful when catching up after vacation or being added to a long email chain.
“There's 50 messages here, this is going to take forever,” Furmuzan said. “Can I just get a summary of what's been going on?”
He also demonstrated how Copilot can answer questions about a user's calendar, such as finding an upcoming meeting, identifying invitations that need a response and surfacing schedule priorities.
UC Davis employees can access the free version of Copilot Chat with their campus credentials, while Microsoft Copilot 365 is a licensed version that integrates directly with Microsoft applications. Some of those capabilities are currently available in Outlook, which is what Furmuzan used for his demonstration.
“At a minimum, I encourage you to get in there and explore,” he said. “Jump into Outlook today and click on Copilot and see the things it can do for you.”
ChatGPT and NotebookLM as productivity tools
BreAnda Northcutt, director of FOA Communications, shared several practical ways her team uses ChatGPT and NotebookLM to reduce repetitive work and speed up complex tasks. (Watch the ChatGPT and NotebookLM demonstrations from the webinar.)
“I think of AI as a handy helper,” Northcutt said. “It really is just another technology tool in my toolbox.”
Northcutt demonstrated how ChatGPT can organize brainstorming from handwritten notes, merge spreadsheet data, refine email drafts and even pressure-test communications for different audiences.
Northcutt also introduced NotebookLM, an AI tool that works only from user-provided sources, making it useful for analyzing policies and reviewing documents against editorial standards and other specific reference materials.
Encouraging thoughtful experimentation
Throughout the webinar, speakers stressed that AI tools work best when paired with human judgment, editing and oversight.
“[This tool] is an assistant. It is not a replacement for a person,” said Stephens during her presentation of Zoom AI Companion. “It does not replace human judgment.”
Northcutt shared that she encourages her team to experiment with AI regularly, challenging them to use it every day for at least an hour to better understand what it can do.
“Most of us can’t really know what’s possible with AI until we start to ask it to do some of the really hard things,” she said.
The webinar video, slide deck, summaries, poll outcomes and more resources are available on the FOA Efficiency Series webpage.