Doing More with AI

You’ve used AI a few times. Here’s how to get more out of it, and some new tools to try.

This page is for the things that go beyond a basic chat box — AI built into apps you already use, AI that can read a stack of your documents, and a couple of paid upgrades worth knowing about. None of it requires a technical background. If anything looks like overkill for what you actually do, scroll past it. The tools you don’t need today will still be here when you do.

A reminder on safe data: Everything covered in the “Already covered” section below — Gemini, ARC, and Copilot via VT credentials — is safe to use with sensitive VT data, including student records and personnel matters. The third-party tools later on the page (Groq, HuggingFace) are not.

Already covered in Getting Started

If you haven’t been to the Getting Started page yet, those three tools are worth starting with:

Google Gemini — gemini.google.com (VT login)
VT ARC — llm.arc.vt.edu (VT login)
Microsoft Copilot (free web version) — copilot.microsoft.com (VT login)

Everything below picks up from there.

Microsoft Copilot — the paid version

The free version of Copilot is a standalone chat window — it doesn’t touch your Office apps. The paid license changes that completely. Copilot gets embedded directly into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote.

Here’s what it does in each app:

App	What Copilot Does
Word	Draft documents from a prompt, summarize existing docs, rewrite or edit sections, answer questions about a file
Excel	Suggest formulas, build charts, analyze data using plain language — no formula syntax required
PowerPoint	Create a presentation from a prompt or an existing Word document, add or rearrange slides
Outlook	Draft emails with context from a thread, summarize long email chains, coach you on tone
Teams	Summarize up to 30 days of chat history, transcribe meetings, generate a recap with action items
OneNote	Draft plans, brainstorm ideas, organize scattered notes into something structured

There’s also Copilot Studio, which lets you build simple AI agents — things like a chatbot that answers questions about your department’s policies — without writing any code.

Departmental cost: $216/year. This is a department-level decision, not a personal subscription. If you live in Office apps all day — drafting emails, managing spreadsheets, sitting in Teams meetings — this is worth talking to your department about.

ARC Document Upload — something most people don’t know about

You already know ARC from the Getting Started page. Here’s a feature of it that doesn’t get enough attention.

You can upload a document to ARC and ask questions about it. A PDF, a report, a policy doc, a contract — drop it in and have a conversation with it. In plain terms, you’re asking the AI to read the document for you and answer specific questions. That’s really all there is to it — upload a document, ask questions.

This works for the whole AAD audience, not just researchers:

Summarize a 50-page policy document into the three things you actually need to know
Compare two budget proposals and pull out the key differences
Digest a long email chain and get the short version
Pull specific information out of a contract without reading the whole thing
Get key points from meeting notes before you have to present on them

Everything stays on VT servers. Nothing leaves campus.

How to actually do it: Go to llm.arc.vt.edu, sign in with your VT login, start a new chat, and look for the paperclip or file-upload icon near the message box. Drop in your document and ask your question in plain language. That’s the whole process — there’s no special setup.

Google NotebookLM

NotebookLM is its own tool — it’s not just another part of Gemini. You access it at notebooklm.google.com with your VT Google login.

The idea is that you feed it sources — documents, PDFs, slides, links — and it builds a private AI that’s specific to that material. You can ask questions across all of your sources at once, get AI-generated summaries, and even generate audio overviews (an AI-narrated summary you can listen to).

Good uses across the AAD audience:

Dropping in background reading before a big meeting so you can ask questions about it rather than reading everything cover to cover
Collecting all the policy updates from this fiscal year so you can answer questions without digging through email
Getting up to speed quickly when you’re handed a project mid-stream and need to absorb a pile of existing documentation
Dropping in vendor proposals to compare them side by side
Pulling together materials before a presentation so you understand the full picture

It’s free with your VT Google account.

Your first NotebookLM — try this: Go to notebooklm.google.com, sign in with your VT account, and click “Create new notebook.” Drag in two or three files — anything you’ve been meaning to read, summarize, or compare. Wait a few seconds for it to process them. Then in the chat box at the bottom, try one of these:

“Give me the three most important things across all of these documents.”
“What do these documents agree on, and where do they disagree?”
“If I had 30 seconds to brief my boss on this, what would I say?”

Click “Audio Overview” in the right panel if you want it to generate a podcast-style discussion of your sources. It takes a couple of minutes and you’ll get something you can listen to on your commute.

Groq Cloud and HuggingFace Chat — for exploring, not for work

These are worth knowing about, but they come with a clear disclaimer first.

With that said:

Groq Cloud (groq.com) — runs open-source AI models with near-instant response times. No account required for basic use. Good for trying out a different kind of AI chat experience or testing prompts you’d later use in a VT-hosted tool.

HuggingFace Chat (huggingface.co/chat) — lets you try dozens of different AI models through a single interface. Free account required. Useful if you want to understand how different models behave or you’ve heard about a specific model and want to see what it does.

These are learning tools, not work tools. Keep them separate.

Gemini AI Pro for Education — the paid upgrade

If you’ve been using the free version of Gemini and want more out of it, there’s a paid upgrade available for VT.

What it adds:

A much larger context window, meaning it can handle longer documents without losing track of earlier content
20 Deep Research reports per day — these are longer, structured research outputs that Gemini builds by searching and synthesizing multiple sources
An AI side panel built into Google Docs and Google Drive, so you can ask questions about your files without leaving the app
Full Gemini Live access with the higher-end models, not just the basic Flash model

Departmental cost: roughly $15–$24/user/month. Contact AAD IT for a current quote.

This is for people who are already comfortable with Gemini and find themselves running into the limits of the free version.

Which one should I use for what?

If you’re staring at this page wondering which tool fits your situation, here’s a rough guide:

You want AI built into the apps you already use (Word, Excel, Outlook). That’s paid Copilot. Talk to your department head about whether the cost is worth it for your role.
You have one big document and you want to ask questions about it. Use ARC Document Upload. It’s free, it’s on VT servers, and there’s nothing to set up.
You have a stack of related documents and you want to ask questions across all of them at once. That’s NotebookLM. Free with your VT Google account.
You’re hitting the limits of free Gemini and you actually live in Google Docs and Drive. Consider Gemini AI Pro for Education. Talk to your department about adding it.
You just want to play with different AI models for fun or learning. Groq Cloud or HuggingFace Chat — but only with non-sensitive material.

Not sure? Start with the free ones. ARC Document Upload and NotebookLM cover most of what people actually need.

University-Wide AI Platform — In the Works

VT is exploring options for a university-wide AI platform. Details are still being worked out at the Division of IT level. We’ll update this page when there’s something concrete to share.

Want to go deeper? → The Full Toolkit

Questions? Contact AAD IT: aadithelp@vt.edu

Last updated: April 2026