Clarity Platform

What is Clarity

Clarity is a secure, scalable AI platform that provides Yale faculty, students, and staff access to different AI models (like GPT, Claude, etc.) to support their work and research. Clarity offers enterprise-level security, assuring users that Yale data is safe and that conversations will not be used to train AI models, while providing the flexibility to select the best AI tool for a specific task.

  • Secure Connections: Instead of connecting to AI services directly (which can be less secure), Clarity uses private, encrypted connections with proper security credentials. It’s like having a private, guarded tunnel instead of using a public road. 
  • Multiple Ways to Use AI: You can interact with AI via the chat interface at clarity.yale.edu, or other programs can connect via the API to enable AI features programmatically.
  • Detailed Permission System: We control exactly who can do what on the platform. For example, some people might be allowed to create AI agents, while others might only be able to chat with them, and others will be able manage data. It’s like having different key cards that unlock different doors in a building.
  • Choice of AI Models: Users can use different AI models for different tasks - like using one model for understanding questions and another for generating answers.
  • Smart Data Integration: Clarity can pull in relevant information from your files and other data sources to give AI models better context for more accurate answers. Clarity also employs advanced techniques that are faster and more cost-effective than basic methods.
  • Consistent Experience: Clarity provides a single interface, so users get a consistent experience regardless of which AI model they’re using.
  • Built for Scale: Clarity can handle thousands of users across the entire university without slowing down.
  • Accessible Design: Our websites follow accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.1 AA), so they work well for users with disabilities.
  • Robust Infrastructure: Clarity runs on Yale’s secure cloud systems, which manage everything from user logins to running code safely and managing connections to AI services.
clarity.yale.edu

Security

Clarity is appropriate for use with low, medium and most high-risk data, with the notable exception of Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI). Users with external obligations like data use agreements should also make sure their use of Clarity is appropriate. For further details, see Clarity Platform Security.

“Yale should begin by providing equitable access to a leading, multimodal generative AI tool to all members of the Yale community. We recommend that Yale procure or develop access to a generative AI tool that will keep individual and university data private.”

—

Report of the Yale Task Force on Artificial Intelligence​

Introduction to the Clarity Platform

Demo of Clarity AI Chatbot

Training Material

To get started using the Clarity Platform, please refer to the following user guide.

How Do I Get Support?

​If you are experiencing an issue with your use of the Clarity platform that is not addressed by the content on this website, please reach out in the following ways.  

Roadmap

For more information about our future enhancements and platform capabilities, please see Clarity platform’s Roadmap.

Comparing Clarity and Copilot with Data Protection

Attributes Copilot Chat (formerly Copilot with Data Protection) Clarity Platform
GPT Large Language Model  OpenAI’s GPT-5 and DALL·E 3 OpenAI’s GPT-4o, GPT-4o mini, o3, and DALL·E 3, Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Claude Sonnet 4, and Google’s Gemini Pro 2.5 and Flash 2.5

(see a comparison of Clarity agents using the different models)
Able to search the web and provide links and citations in its response generation  ✓   
File upload  ✓ 
 		 ✓ 
GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini agents only
(see details on working with files in Clarity)
File upload limits Unlimited text file uploads with a maximum size of 1MB per file. Limited to 1 image file per prompt.  No limit on number of file uploads but a maximum file size of 512MB per file 
File upload from OneDrive ✓  ✓ 
Image generation ✓  ✓ 
Chat limits No limits No limits 
Chat history Chats are saved for 18 months and can be accessed in the chat history panel  Every chat is saved and can be accessed later in the chat history panel 
Costs Free  Free 
Availability Staff, faculty, and students (18 years of age or above) Staff, faculty, and students 
Data risk classification  High risk data in Work tab
Moderate risk data in Web tab		 High risk data, with some exceptions such as ePHI. Refer to Clarity Platform Security for more information
Vendor  Microsoft  The Clarity Platform is built on FoundationaLLM from Solliance 

Frequently Asked Questions

For more information, please see Clarity platform’s Frequently Asked Questions.

Release Notes

For information about releases, please see Clarity platform’s Release Notes.