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Housed within KSL, the Freedman Center is a hub for cutting-edge digital research methods and it’s now embracing generative AI. Computers in the Freedman Center’s lab have been upgraded with the latest AI tools. Notably, the FC is installing two high-end desktop AI sandbox workstations that can run AI models locally (see specifications here). These powerful Windows machines are equipped with hardware to run LLMs entirely offline. Running models locally means researchers can have greater control over what data the model sees and ensure nothing confidential leaves the machine. It’s also cost-effective compared to cloud AI services as it is a free service for all CWRU affiliates.
The sandbox PCs come pre-loaded with popular machine learning frameworks and GenAI software, e.g. Ollama and AnywhereLLM, plus Python libraries like PyTorch and LangChain for custom AI development. Researchers can request additional models or software to be installed as needed by emailing FreedmanCenter@case.edu. This initiative effectively creates a safe playground for AI research: faculty or graduate students curious about an LLM can try it on a library machine without needing to invest in their own GPU server. The Freedman Center’s investment in AI is an extension of its broader mission to support digitally enabled research and teaching.
The Center also offers software for data analysis, GIS mapping, multimedia, 3D modeling, and many other open source and proprietary tools on its lab machines. CWRU scholars will be able to tinker with models, run experiments, or develop AI-driven projects in a low-risk environment. This kind of facility is a major resource for anyone at CWRU looking to dive into LLMs or machine learning research.
For more info about the hardware and support resources available at the Freedman Center visit: https://case.edu/library/freedman-center or email FreedmanCenter@case.edu.
CWRU provides an array of internal AI platforms and tools for experimentation and day-to-day use. Many of these are secure, university-supported services that allow the community to explore AI without compromising sensitive data. CWRU has woven AI capabilities into many of its standard software offerings, from productivity suites to research tools, ensuring that the community can experiment with GenAI in various contexts.
This is an internal, general-purpose AI web portal accessible with a CWRU login. It allows users to choose among several large language models (LLMs) to power a chat interface, currently including OpenAI’s GPTs and Meta’s LLaMA models, with others available on request. Importantly, any data you enter into this portal stays within the university and is not shared externally or used to train the models. In other words, it offers a private “ChatGPT-like” environment for the CWRU community. The portal has advanced features: you can upload your own files (PDFs, images, text, etc.) and ask questions about them, maintain a personal prompt library, and save conversation history.
By request, UTech (University Technology) can even help deploy custom chatbots that use specific departmental data or documents as knowledge sources. The CWRU AI portal thus serves as a secure sandbox for using LLMs in research or coursework, without the data privacy concerns of public AI services.
The AI Playground is a web-based experimental hub of AI tools aimed primarily at faculty and staff. Launched in early 2025 by [U]Tech in partnership with the Provost’s Office and Kelvin Smith Library, the AI Playground offers an evolving list of AI applications , both tools already available at CWRU and new ones under evaluation. It’s designed as a “try before you buy” environment where educators, researchers, and administrators can test out AI software to see how it might enhance teaching, streamline administrative tasks, or spur research. For example, an instructor might experiment with an AI tutoring app or a coding assistant via the Playground before deciding to adopt it in a course.
The platform is interactive and low-pressure, encouraging users to provide feedback and recommendations. Faculty and staff can leave comments on their experiences with each tool and even join a Teams community to share best practices and AI “cautionary tales”. This feedback loop will help shape which AI tools the university officially supports in the future. The AI Playground is a unique internal resource to explore generative AI tools hands-on and collaboratively.
CWRU has its own AI-powered campus chatbot called Spartan Answers. Debuting as a pilot in October 2024, Spartan Answers is embedded in the My CWRU portal and is powered by Microsoft’s AI (Copilot). This chatbot serves as a “virtual front door” for students and others to get on-demand answers to university-related questions. Spartan Answers pulls content from across official case.edu websites and provides cited answers with footnotes linking back to the source.
For example, a student could ask “When is the application deadline for study abroad?” and Spartan Answers will retrieve the answer from the relevant CWRU webpage, providing the citation. This ensures answers are trustworthy and verifiable. The project is a collaboration between the Provost’s Office and UTech, reflecting CWRU’s focus on improving student services through innovation. As Provost Ward noted, “this tool not only streamlines access to information but also promotes innovative solutions that make a meaningful impact on our campus”. Initially launched for students, Spartan Answers is also usable by faculty and staff for their CWRU questions.
CWRU also provides access to major commercial generative AI services. Microsoft’s Copilot (an AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT, integrated with Microsoft 365) is freely available to all students, faculty, and staff using their university credentials. Likewise, Google’s Gemini AI service (which can generate text via the Flash model, create images via Imagen, perform research with “Deep Research” mode, etc.) is offered to the campus community when signed in with a CWRU account. Using your CWRU login with these services ensures your data is protected (encrypted and not used to train models, according to Microsoft/Google’s terms).
These tools have powerful capabilities , for example, Google Gemini allows creating custom AI experts known as “Gems” and features a collaborative canvas for AI-generated content. However, CWRU does note that neither service is approved for highly regulated data like HIPAA-protected health information.
Students, staff and faculty can leverage Copilot or Gemini for brainstorming, research, coding help, or creative work, with the university’s safe access guardrails in place, a big advantage over using unapproved free tools.
For those involved in advanced AI research, CWRU’s Research Computing and Infrastructure services provide heavy-duty computing resources. The university has recently installed an AI supercomputing cluster (NSF-funded) consisting of multiple NVIDIA DGX A100 nodes, as well as an additional cluster (in the Computer & Data Sciences department) with NVIDIA HGX H200 nodes. These are high-end GPU servers purpose-built for training AI and machine learning models. Researchers (especially faculty or graduate students) can collaborate with the Research Computing team to utilize these clusters for large-scale AI projects. Training a deep neural network on a big dataset or running computational experiments with LLMs can be offloaded to these clusters. The presence of these HPC resources means that beyond just using pre-made tools, CWRU scholars can develop and train their own AI models with institutional support. Interested researchers can contact the HPC support team to integrate these resources into grant proposals or courses. The combination of the Freedman Center’s interactive sandbox, which you will learn more about in the next section, and the HPC clusters gives CWRU a strong infrastructure for AI.
Other AI Tools
Several additional AI-related tools are available. Google NotebookLM is an experimental notebook-powered by LLMs that lets you upload documents and ask questions about them; CWRU users can try NotebookLM using either a free version or an enhanced version that is tied to their to Google Workspace.
The university’s Zoom video conferencing also has an AI Companion feature, for live meeting transcripts, summaries, etc., that any CWRU Zoom user can enable. Adobe Express, a web-based multimedia editor, is provided through the Software Center, which includes generative AI features like text-to-image and “generative fill” for photos.