Amplify At Carleton College

Our pilot during Spring 2025 will focus on some select classes (let us know if you are interested), interested graduating seniors, and volunteers from offices across campus.  The AI Coordinating team will work with the participants to learn how they are using Amplify, how it works for them, and how we can make it easier for more folks at Carleton to take advantage of this tool successfully.  We are in touch with other Liberal Arts Colleges currently piloting Amplify.

Carleton is going to conduct some research around the use of Amplify.  If you are interested in this research, please indicate your interest.

Beyond basic text generation, Amplify GenAI includes several specialized features designed to enhance productivity and learning. These features include

• Summary with Quotations: condenses large amounts of text while retaining key excerpts
• CSV Extractor: processes data
• Create PowerPoint and PowerPoint Assistant: creates PowerPoint outline to download and upload into the PowerPoint or Google Slides applications
• Create Visualization and Visualization Assistant: creates visualizations of data you provide to Amplify
• Create Diagram and Diagram Assistant: creates diagrams of data you provide to Amplify
• Custom Instructions: allows to tailor AI responses to user’s specific needs
• Default Instructions: Amplify’s default settings

The availability of multiple LLMs like Claude 3 Haiku and ChatGPT-4o within Amplify GenAI provides users with access to different AI models with varying strengths and capabilities, so that users can choose the model that best suits their specific task, whether it requires rapid processing, nuanced understanding, or multimodal input.

Amplify GenAI is designed to support a wide range of academic and research needs across disciplines. For computer science, it can assist with coding tasks, debugging, and algorithm explanations. in the Humanities, it can be used for summarizing lengthy texts, drafting essays, and analyzing literary works. In scientific fields, the platform can help with data extraction, visualization, and technical documentation. In Economics it can help with processing spreadsheets, generating reports, and creating presentations.

Our current version of Amplify does not hold the most recent iterations of the different Large Language Models (LLM).  We chose Amplify because it does allow us to give everyone the same options, in addition to Carleton’s Gemini and Adobe Firefly (through Adobe Express), outside of Amplify.  Amplify is a tool that provides everyone on campus with a practice area to hone their critical and creative skills with text-based input and output.  A couple of the models can analyze images, but none of the Amplify LLMs can create images. So, what can these models do?

List of current models

Remember that it is easy to switch between models, so if you want to see how different models react to the same prompt, or you want to use a different model because you want to try a different task, all you need to do is switch to a different flavor of LLM.

You have chosen your model (and remember, it is easy to choose).

You now need to give the LLM instructions; you need to write a prompt.  When you search for how to write a good prompt, you will find a lot of possibilities now.  Key is that you give the LLM enough information so that it can give you good suggestions. 

1. Task: Clearly state what you want from the AI. Use words to provide a clear output goal such as a summary, story, or analysis. Use action verbs.
2. Format: Provide specific instructions on what the output should look like (e.g. lists, tables, paragraphs, essay, memo). Avoid being vague. Instead of asking for “ideas,” specify the kind of ideas you’re interested in (e.g., “business ideas for a mobile app targeting fitness enthusiasts”). Sometimes it helps to give it a number (e.g., give me 20 ideas).
3. Voice or Role: Ask the AI to respond in a certain voice – sometimes, asking it to write like a particular expert makes a big difference.
4. Provide context for the AI to respond to. Who is the potential audience? What are some important situational details? What other important background information is useful? The more information you provide, the better the output tends to be.
5. Use clear and simple language.
6. Define any limits or boundaries for format, style, or tone.
7. Ask open-ended questions.
8. If possible, include examples for the AI to work off of.
9. Iterate and Refine prompts. Don’t hesitate to refine the prompt based on previous outputs. Understanding the AI’s responses can guide adjustments for better results.
10. Fact check! No matter how convincing the output sounds, no matter how often previous output was spot on, always check facts of any output.

Amplify allows for users to share prompts, prompt templates, and AI Assistants with others.

Prompt templates make it easier to ensure that everyone in a course or group is using the same prompt that can be tweaked by an individual while keeping its core structure.  AI Assistants are built with a specific task in mind and trained on specific documents.  For example, you can create a tutor that is drawing on a few files you uploaded. The community might want to create a Carleton Handbook AI Assistant.  Note that everything that is shared can only be used within Amplify – and it is only visible there.

• Create a Prompt Template (Instructions in Knowledge Base)
• Create an AI Assistant (Instructions in Knowledge Base)

Carleton takes privacy and security seriously, and Amplify GenAI reflects this commitment through its robust data protection measures. All data interactions are encrypted, both at the transit and the rest, and the platform is hosted on secure AWS servers to ensure confidentiality. User information and prompts are not shared with third parties, and as the default setting, user activity is isolated to prevent cross-device sharing. Clear privacy policies outline what data is collected and how it is used, ensuring transparency and user trust.

Users are encouraged to follow best practices for secure usage, such as avoiding the submission of sensitive personal information (e.g., social security numbers, credit card numbers or other personally identifiable information).

Carleton is committed to continually enhance Amplify GenAI to better serve the needs of the Carleton community. Future developments include expanding the range of supported AI models, integrating new tools for advanced research and administrative tasks, and enhancing customization options for specific Carleton departments. We continue to offer workshops focused on generative AI, the Ed Tech Teas, we are building out virtual materials for students in the Student Computer Literacy Skills Moodle course, and we continue to add resources to the AI at Carleton website.

Another key objective is to improve accessibility and inclusion by ensuring the platform meets WCAG compliance standards, offering multilingual support, and optimizing the user interface for mobile devices. By fostering an environment of responsible AI use and innovation, Carleton aims to equip its community with cutting-edge tools to succeed in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Through the feedback from students, faculty, and staff after using Amplify, Carleton ITS will continue to refine and expand Amplify GenAI, ensuring it remains a secure, user-centric resource for the campus community.