ChatAI - Basics
ChatAI - Generative AI for members of the University of Bremen
Since 2025, the University of Bremen has been offering all members data-protection-compliant access to various generative AI models. These models are made available and accessed via the ChatAI service, which is operated by the GWDG as part of the Academic Cloud.
The university administration has issued a guide and a checklist designed to assist you in using ChatAI and raise awareness of potential risks:
You can find the official GWDG guidelines at https://docs.hpc.gwdg.de/services/chat-ai/index.html.
This introduction to ChatAI is still under construction and will be continuously updated.
Logging in to the GWDG Academic Cloud
To use ChatAI, first log in to the Academic Cloud at http://academiccloud.de/de/services/chatai/ by clicking the blue Login button in the top-right corner.
You do not need an additional account for this. You can log in via the Federated Login provided by the University of Bremen using the credentials for your university account. During the initial login process, the ZfN will display several notices that you must read and confirm in order to complete the login.
Main View
This is the main view of ChatAI. In the center, you'll see the window where you can enter your query.
Here you'll find additional settings, which are explained in more detail below:
- Selecting the language model (LLM): You can select the language model you want to use from the drop-down menu at the top of the screen.
- Managing ChatAI Conversations: Click the arrow on the left side of the screen to access your personal chats.
- Chat settings: Click the gear icon in the top-right corner to access detailed settings and tools for your chat.
- Personal Settings: You'll see your initials on the right-hand side. Clicking here will take you to your personal settings.
Depending on the model used, a message will also appear on the right-hand side informing you about the security and processing of the data you have entered. By default, ChatAI uses models operated locally by GWDG. With these models, your data is neither processed nor stored outside of GWDG’s servers.
In addition, you can use the two icons in the lower-right corner to customize the language and appearance of the ChatAI interface:
- Light/Dark Mode: You can switch between Light and Dark Mode at any time by clicking the moon or sun icons, depending on which view you find more comfortable.
- Language settings (German/English): Click on the British or German flag to switch between German and English.
Selecting the Language Model/LLM
ChatAI offers a wide variety of language models (LLMs). You can select them from the dropdown list at the top of the screen and switch between them at any time.
Different language models have different strengths and weaknesses. For an overview of the LLMs available in ChatAI, along with their strengths and weaknesses, please visit https://docs.hpc.gwdg.de/services/chat-ai/models/index.html
In the drop-down list, icons appear to the right of the model names to indicate special features:
- Brain: The LLM is designed as a thinking/reasoning model specifically for complex cognitive tasks that span multiple steps.
- Book: The LLM can access an ArcanaRAG and use it as a knowledge base for its outputs.
- Image: The LLM accepts images as input and can interpret them.
- Microphone: The LLM accepts audio files as input and can interpret them.
- Camera: The LLM accepts video files as input and can interpret them.
There is also a key difference between internal and external LLMs:
- Note: The open-source models are hosted by GWDG on its own servers. When using these models, your data will not be shared with external service providers, stored, or used for training purposes.
- External: GWDG also offers commercial models from OpenAI (ChatGPT). In this case, your chat histories are anonymized and stored for 30 days on Microsoft Azure servers within the EU.
If you have selected an internal model, you will see a green lock in the upper-right corner. If you have selected an external model, a yellow warning icon will appear (see figure).
Managing your conversations
You can expand this menu on the left side of the screen. It offers the following options:
- The “+ New Conversation” button: starts a new chat.
- FOLDERS: Here you can create folders to organize your saved chats by topic
- ALL CHATS: In this list, you can switch between your chats as you like. For each chat, clicking the three dots on the right opens a menu with the following options:
- Rename: Give the chat a (new) name
- Move: Move the chat to a folder
- Export: Export the chat
- Delete: Delete the chat
- Import Chat: This allows you to import a previously exported chat so you can continue it.
- Chat with Persona: Select an existing persona or create a new one based on your own ideas to chat with it.
