AI for Aalto students
AI can be used to support learning. It should not replace learning. Use it as one tool among many others. A collection of AI tips, tools and advice for Aalto students
Use AI to support your learning. Choose suitable tools (e.g. Aalto AI Assistant) and check course-specific guidelines.
AI in your studies – quick guide
How to use it
- Practice: ask for exercises, multiple-choice questions and plain-language explanations.
- Thinking: generate ideas and request counterarguments.
- Organisation: create timelines, to-do lists and search strategies.
- Polishing: language editing, summarising and explaining terms.
Remember your responsibility
- Your teacher may limit AI use; follow course instructions.
- Do not submit AI text as your own. Verify content with other sources.
- Language models are not permitted in the maturity test.
- Using AI against the rules may be treated as misconduct.
Copyright and referencing
- Direct use without proper referencing can be plagiarism.
- Record AI use as required by your course and ensure you have the right to use the material.
Data protection
- Do not share confidential data or personal information.
- Anonymise materials, use approved tools (Aalto AI Assistant, Microsoft 365) and check data protection policies.
- Teachers may process student work only in Aalto-approved systems.
Environment
- AI consumes energy. Narrow your prompts, ask for summaries before long outputs, and prefer lighter/older language models when that's sufficient.
Need clarification?
- Ask your course teacher how AI may be used on the course.
Aalto AI Assistant, for students
Now: A secure ChatGPT clone that protects your data. Used by thousands of personnel members and students. The Aalto AI Assistant is protected by multi‑factor authentication (MFA).
Soon: A tool to interact with Aalto data and student services, including the Student Guide, MyCourses, and teacher-assigned tasks
Tips for Aalto AI Assistant
Why to use Aalto AI Assistant
The main reasons are safety and privacy. Both user agreements and digital firewalls protect your data when using the Aalto AI Assistant, compared with services like ChatGPT. The Aalto AI Assistant does not use your data to train language models.
In addition, we can incorporate more of our own data into the assistant. We started with content from Aalto.fi and are moving on to academic sources such as MyCourses.
| Feature | ChatGPT | Aalto AI Assistant |
|---|---|---|
| Protects your data (does not train LLMs) | ❌ | ✅ |
| Reads uploaded files (PDF) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Analyses images, converts to text | ✅ | ✅ |
| Possibility to discuss Aalto's content and data |
❌ Never |
✅ Chat with Aalto.fi (now for staff) Chat with Student Guide (coming up) MyCourses AI Assistant (coming up) |
| The tool can be used by including Aalto's... | ||
| ... public content | ✅ | ✅ |
| ... internal content | ❌ | ✅ |
| ... confidential content | ❌ | ✅ |
| ... secret content | ❌ | ❌ |
The ways of us using AI
Discover how fellow Aalto students are using AI to level up real‑world skills and why mastering AI is fast becoming a core competence for your future career. In these bite‑size videos, they share practical tips and ethical best practices with Aalto’s AI Assistant to help you build confidence and use AI responsibly. Press play and get inspired.
Watch video
Watch video
Watch video
Tips for studying with AI
Translate Office Documents
- Word documents can be translated in their entirety at once.
- PowerPoint presentations can be translated by paragraph or word.
- Get to know Microsoft 365 tools to get started
Let teams join your meetings — Aalto AI assistant takes the notes
- A series of group projects is coming up and no one is taking notes? Tip: Write down a few basics by hand, then a) let Teams or Zoom capture your study group meetings as a transcript. One phone is enough; not everyone needs to join the meeting.
- First, get everyone’s consent and, for example in Teams, enable transcription only. After the meeting - no matter how messy – b) copy the transcription and c) ask the AI Assistant to generate notes from the discussion; you can also provide a brief prompt with key terms to guide it.
Important: Do not share Aalto-internal or confidential conversations with ChatGPT.
AI tools for finding materials
Aalto-Primo
The Learning Centre offers Aalto-Primo AI, which provides summaries of topics based on international research articles. You can find the summarising funcion in the upper left corner of Aalto-Primo.
SCOPUS (Elsevier)
Scopus is a large abstract and citation database. Outside campus network use VPN connection.
AI news
Prototyping and Validation Grant: WeatherSens AI
Three Aalto founders are using off-the-shelf drones and an AI physics model to measure the weather where no station stands. First they had to learn when not to sell.
AI Spotlight 2/2026: New features and an upcoming translation tool in Aalto AI Assistant
Discover what’s new in Aalto AI Assistant and learn about the upcoming translation features.
When there is no proof, the story is the evidence — a new Founder Storytelling course at Aalto University
A new course at Aalto University teaches aspiring founders how to build, adapt and deliver the story behind their venture — before the traction, revenue and track record exist.
Take your first steps as a founder — in just six weeks
A new Founder Principles course at Aalto University gives students the tools, mindset and hands-on experience to start building — with AI as a co-founder from day one.AI events
The Convergence of AI and Quantum Technologies
This panel discussion will explore how the two burgeoning fields of quantum technology and AI are beginning to converge and examine their potential impact on Finland’s long-term competitiveness.
Marsio Presents, 8 October 2026: Learning Now
Marsio Presents: Learning Now is a morning event for Aalto educators interested in discussing current topics regarding teaching. During the morning the focus is in learning: what is learning now, in an AI -enabled world? Join us to hear presentations from Aalto educators and students and gain practical ideas, discuss ethical questions, and reflect together on what meaningful learning looks like today.
AI in Research Work, October 8, 2026
Learn about generative artificial intelligence in research work with Data Agents Dr. Enrico Glerean, Dr. Pedro Silva, and Dr. Emrecan Gulay