This week at Stanford
Week of November 2
to
Release notes 8
What University IT changed in Stanford's AI services this week.
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Stanford MCP Gateway launches
The Stanford MCP Gateway has launched. One connector, SU MCP Gateway, connects some of the university's most used apps to Claude for Education and ChatGPT Edu. UIT's getting started guide explains how to begin, and more apps are expected to be added.
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GPT-6.1 Terra in ChatGPT Edu
GPT-6.1 Terra has been added to the Work tab in ChatGPT Edu. Try it for writing and advanced visualization tasks.
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ChatGPT Images 2.6 in ChatGPT Edu
ChatGPT Images 2.6 is available in Stanford's ChatGPT Edu workspace. It creates images faster and keeps details more consistent as you refine them.
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Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite and Muse Spark Open in the Stanford AI Playground
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is now in the Stanford AI Playground, a fast option for shorter, everyday tasks. Meta's Muse Spark Open is there too, another model to try for your work.
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Gemini 2.5 models removed from the Stanford AI Playground
Gemini 2.5 Pro, 2.5 Flash and 2.5 Flash-Lite have been removed from the Stanford AI Playground because Google has deprecated them. If you used one of them, try the newer Gemini models now available.
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New Gemini, open-source and embedding models on the AI API Gateway (opens in a new tab)
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite and Gemini 3.8 Flash are now available through the AI API Gateway, along with the open-source models DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 and Muse Spark Open. OpenAI's text-embedding-3-large is there too, for applications that use embeddings, such as search. To add any of these to an existing key, use the Change or Cancel AI API Gateway Key Service form.
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Claude Motion enabled in Claude for Education
Claude Motion is now enabled. Use it to create animated explainers from your content.
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Claude Dashboards enabled in Claude for Education
Claude Dashboards is now enabled. Use it to present data visually so it is easier to explore.
In the news 3
What the vendors and the wider AI world announced.
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Introducing Gemini 4 Carbon (opens in a new tab)
Google's newest model, which it calls its strongest yet, with gains in coding, longer multi-step tasks and finding and fixing security flaws.
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What's New in Microsoft Copilot, October 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Microsoft's monthly roundup: Chat and Cowork side by side in Copilot, plus Outlook and Planner updates and a catalog of Cowork tasks.
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Dartmouth Provost Resigns Over AI Use (opens in a new tab)
A faculty review found AI had been overused in writing published articles without saying so: a reminder to be open about how you use AI.
Sessions this week 5
Live Technology Training classes this week and next.
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Claude Cowork: Powerful AI Techniques to Draft, Edit, and Improve Your Work (opens in a new tab)
Tuesday Nov 3, 9 am to noon, live online, $325: set up Claude Cowork in the desktop app and guide it through multi-step file tasks.
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Claude Code Foundations (opens in a new tab)
Tuesday Nov 3 and Thursday Nov 5, 1 to 4 pm, live online, $470: developers use Claude Code to explore codebases, write, debug and refactor.
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Excel & AI: Time-Saving Hacks for Faster Spreadsheets (opens in a new tab)
Wednesday Nov 4, 9 am to noon, live online, $300: Excel shortcuts, then AI to write and fix formulas, clean data and explore a sheet.
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Claude Cowork for Effective Management of Projects (opens in a new tab)
Wednesday Nov 4, 1 to 4 pm, live online, $325: set up a project in Claude Cowork, organize tasks and files, and track progress.
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Using AI to Generate, Fix, and Automate Excel Calculations (opens in a new tab)
Wednesday Nov 4, 1 to 4 pm, live online, $300: IF, VLOOKUP, SUMIF and COUNTIF, with AI drafting formulas from plain-language requests.
Archive
Every published week
- Nov 2 to Nov 8, 2026 Week of November 2 16 items
- Oct 26 to Nov 1, 2026 Week of October 26 15 items
- Oct 12 to Oct 18, 2026 Week of October 12 13 items
- Oct 5 to Oct 11, 2026 Week of October 5 9 items
- Sep 21 to Sep 27, 2026 Week of September 21 16 items
- Sep 14 to Sep 20, 2026 Week of September 14 15 items
- Sep 7 to Sep 13, 2026 Week of September 7 4 items
- Aug 31 to Sep 6, 2026 Week of August 31 14 items
- Aug 24 to Aug 30, 2026 Week of August 24 12 items
- Aug 17 to Aug 23, 2026 Week of August 17 7 items