Getting Started with AI at VT

Everything here is free, already paid for by VT, and you can’t break anything by trying it. These are three tools you have right now — no installs, no accounts to create, no IT ticket needed. Just a browser and your VT login.

If you’ve never actually used one of these before, keep reading. The next two sections will get you from zero to “okay, I get it” in about five minutes.

First things first — what even is this?

An AI chatbot (you’ll also hear “LLM” or “large language model” — don’t worry about the jargon) is basically a text box where you type what you want and it types back. That’s the whole thing. You can ask it a question, tell it to do something, paste in a document and ask it to read it, or just describe a problem and see where it goes.

It’s not a search engine. It’s not looking things up on the web. It’s generating a response based on patterns it learned during training. Sometimes it’s incredibly useful. Sometimes it’s wrong. Part of getting comfortable with it is learning to tell the difference.

A few things that help right from the start:

Talk to it like a smart colleague who has no context. Tell it who you are, what you’re working on, and what you need. The more you give it up front, the better the response.
Be specific. “Write an email” gets you something generic. “Draft a brief, friendly email to faculty reminding them that benefits enrollment closes Friday, and ask them to confirm when they’ve completed it” gets you something you can actually use.
If the first answer isn’t right, say so. “Make it shorter.” “Too formal.” “Try again but focus on X.” It keeps going, no offense taken.
You can’t break it. There’s no wrong question. If you don’t know where to start, literally type “I don’t know where to start — what could you help me with?” It’s good at that too.

Your first 5 minutes — just try it

The best way to understand these tools is to use one for something small and real. Open any of the three below — Gemini is the easiest since everyone at VT already has it — and try one of these prompts. Copy and paste them if you want:

“I have a meeting in 20 minutes about [topic]. Here’s what I know: [paste rough notes]. What questions should I be ready to answer?”
“Rewrite this email to sound warmer without being unprofessional: [paste email]”
“Summarize this in three bullet points I can use in a meeting: [paste long document]”
“I’m planning a department event for about 40 people. Give me five different venue and theme ideas with pros and cons for each.”
“Explain [some technical thing someone just said to me] like I’m smart but not in that field.”
“I’m drafting a performance review for a staff member who did great work this year. Help me turn these notes into two paragraphs: [paste notes].”

Read what it comes back with. Tell it to try again. Push back. That is the skill — it’s not about finding the magic words, it’s about treating the whole thing like a conversation where you’re the one steering.

Google Gemini

You already have this through your VT Google account.

Go to gemini.google.com, sign in with your VT credentials, and start typing. That’s it. No settings to configure, no model to pick — just a text box.

Ask it to draft an email, summarize a long document, give you feedback on something you wrote, or brainstorm a list of ideas. It works like a conversation — you can follow up, ask it to change something, or tell it to try again. A few things people in AAD use it for:

Writing a first draft of a message to faculty about an upcoming deadline
Getting a plain-English summary of a 40-page policy report
Brainstorming ideas for a department event or end-of-year celebration
Cleaning up a rough first draft of a memo or announcement

Gemini Live

You can talk to Gemini out loud and it talks back — like having a conversation with AI instead of typing. On the Gemini website, look for the microphone icon at the bottom of the chat. On mobile, Gemini Live is available in the Gemini app. Some people find it easier to think out loud than to type a prompt.

On your standard VT account, Gemini Live runs on the basic (Flash) model. Full access to the higher-end models through Gemini Live requires the AI Pro for Education add-on (covered on the Doing More with AI page).

NotebookLM

There’s also a tool called NotebookLM that lets you upload a bunch of documents and ask questions about all of them at once. We cover that on the Doing More with AI page when you’re ready.

About your privacy

Your VT Google account has protections that a personal Google account doesn’t. Google does not train its AI on data from VT education accounts. Use your VT login (not your personal Gmail) and you’re covered.

VT ARC LLM Service

This is VT’s own AI, running on VT’s own servers.

Go to llm.arc.vt.edu and sign in with your VT login. It works the same way as Gemini — type a question or a request and it responds.

The practical difference is that ARC is hosted entirely on VT servers — no third party involved at any point. Gemini and Copilot are safe for sensitive VT data too when you’re signed in with your VT credentials, but some people prefer keeping everything on VT infrastructure as a matter of principle. ARC is also where you’ll find features the others don’t have: image generation, document upload, and access to a wider menu of open-source models.

When you first open it, you’ll see a list of models to choose from. A “model” is just the AI brain behind the tool — different ones have different strengths. The default model works for most tasks. If you’re working with images — uploading a photo, generating an image, or asking about something visual — pick whichever one is listed as handling images, not just text. ARC swaps models in and out over time, so if the names look different from what you’ve heard elsewhere, that’s normal. Don’t overthink it.

A few things this is good for:

Asking questions about a report or policy doc you paste in
Getting a quick summary of a long email thread
Generating a draft image for an event flyer or social media post
Analyzing a photo or design — “what’s working in this layout?”
Anything where you’d rather keep the data on VT infrastructure

Microsoft Copilot (free web version)

You have this too.

Go to copilot.microsoft.com and sign in with your VT Microsoft account. It works as a standalone chat — same idea as Gemini, different AI behind it. The free web version is limited: it can’t do anything inside your Office apps (Word, Excel, Outlook). That’s a paid upgrade. But as a basic AI chat tool, it works, it’s another option, and it’s already available to you.

A few things to keep in mind

None of these replace your judgment or your expertise. They’re tools for getting a first draft faster, cutting through a long document, or working through a problem when you’d rather think out loud than stare at a blank page.

Here’s what to do when things don’t go smoothly:

If the response is generic or off. Give it more context. Who are you? What are you trying to accomplish? Who is it for? What tone do you want? The more you tell it up front, the better the response.

If you don’t know how to start. Try: “I’m a [your role] working on [rough description of your situation]. What could you help me with?” It’ll ask you questions back and take it from there.

If it clearly made something up. That happens. AI tools can be wrong about facts, dates, names, numbers, or anything recent or specific. They will sometimes state false things with complete confidence. Always double-check anything you’d actually use or send — especially facts and figures.

If the response is too long, too short, too formal, or too casual. Just tell it. “Make it shorter.” “More conversational.” “Cut the corporate tone.” It adjusts immediately.

If you’re stuck in a loop. Sometimes it keeps giving you the same kind of answer no matter how you rephrase. Try starting a new chat — a fresh conversation often breaks it out of whatever rut it was in.

About sensitive information. All three of the tools below — Gemini, ARC, and Copilot — are safe to use with VT data, including sensitive material like student records, personnel matters, and unpublished budget details, as long as you’re signed in with your VT credentials. These are enterprise tenants with VT data protections in place. The one rule: don’t sign in with a personal Google or Microsoft account for VT work, and don’t paste VT data into the optional third-party tools mentioned on later pages (Groq, HuggingFace) — those don’t have the same protections.

Ready to explore more? → Doing More with AI

Or jump to The Full Toolkit.

Questions? Contact AAD IT: aadithelp@vt.edu

Last updated: April 2026