ITS AI Release Notes

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March 20, 2025

U-M GPT Features

  • Added the o3-mini reasoning model, tailored to handle complex queries, math, and coding tasks efficiently.
  • Claude Haiku 3.5, previously available only to U-M faculty, is now also available to 
    U-M staff.

Maizey Features

The Choose a Chain option under AI Settings has been replaced with a Conversational Setting toggle switch.

  • When the toggle switch is turned off, your Maizey project will use Retrieval QA (question/answer). 
  • When the toggle switch is turned on, your Maizey project will use Conversational mode, which retains chat history for seamless, ongoing conversations. Your Maizey project will function similarly to U-M GPT, but will also still reference your data sources when responding to prompts.
  • Note that you do not need to reindex your project if you change these settings. Reindexing is only required after making changes to your data sources.
  • See Getting Started with Maizey and Guidance on AI Settings in Maizey for more information.

February 27, 2025

Go Blue Features

  • Added U-M bus information to Go Blue . Users can now enable their location to ask questions like, "Where is the closest bus stop for Commuter North?"

Bug Fixes

  • Resolved an issue where Maizey would falsely indicate data availability when there was none for indexing.
  • Fixed a limitation with Google Drive integration, which was previously restricted to 461 documents.
  • Fixed a problem where MiMaizey would consistently return the same source link.
     

February 17, 2025

MiMaizey Enhancements

  • Added MCommunity integration allowing you to find contact information for faculty, staff, and students through MCommunity.
  • Added sports integration allowing you to stay up to date on schedules, scores, and upcoming event information.
  • Added Academic Calendar integration allowing you to find information such as University terms, holidays, and breaks.
  • Added News integration allowing you to stay informed with campus news sourced from Michigan News, the University Record, and Michigan Daily.
  • Added Events integration allowing you to explore upcoming events from Happening @ Michigan, including lectures, performances, and student activities.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where the Maizey Chunks setting was not being adhered to.
  • Fixed an issue preventing Canvas Lecture Captures from being indexed in Maizey.
  • Fixed an issue where Maizey would incorrectly report indexing success when no data was indexed.
  • Fixed an issue causing certain Canvas Maizey projects to render MiMaizey unresponsive.
     

January 9, 2025

Improvement

Added a copy URL button (clipboard icon) next to the Public URL on the Maizey Project Details page, allowing you to easily copy/paste the project’s public URL.

Bug Fix

Resolved an issue where users were not able to enter a Shortcode on Maizey projects connected to a Canvas course.
 

December 5, 2024

New Feature

  • Claude 3.5 Haiku is now available for faculty in U-M GPT. It is Anthropic's fastest AI model, designed for quick and efficient interactions.
    • Expanded Context Window: With a 200K context window (about 450 pages of text), Claude 3.5 Haiku can process and retain significantly more information in a single interaction.

Improvements

  • Email notifications will now automatically be sent for expiring and disabled scheduled tasks in Maizey.
    • Depending on the type of project, email notifications will be sent to the project creator (for private projects), the project owner MCommunity group (for shared projects), or individuals with the teacher role (for Canvas integrations).
    • For more information about expired and disabled tasks, see Scheduled Tasks in Maizey.
  • The Private Project toggle option has been replaced by a Privacy Status field in Maizey project creation wizard allowing you to select Shared or Private.
    • Shared projects require an MCommunity group, whereas private projects are only visible to the project creator.
  • Links providing additional help and guidance for designing system prompts have been added below the Maizey System Prompt editor.

Bug Fixes

  • Resolved issues with Maizey responses being cut off due to table formatting.
  • Addressed issue where expired Maizey tasks were not obvious in the user interface. 

November 21, 2024

Improvements

  • MiMaizey responses generated from web search will now be labeled.
  • Search functionality has been added to the Maizey Projects list.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a bug in the URL Extractor that caused certain websites to produce an error.
  • Resolved an issue where accessing U-M GPT Maizey from the Canvas mobile site would result in an error.
     

October 24, 2024

Overview

This release focuses on optimizing the performance and reliability of U-M GPT, Maizey, and MiMaizey, introducing new features, and fixing existing issues to enhance user experience.

Optimizations

Optimized U-M GPT, Maizey, and MiMaizey to increase reliability and reduce instances of hung states or timeouts that prevent responses.

Maizey

New Features

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where users could trigger duplicate indexing tasks.
  • Fixed an issue where users would receive no feedback when clicking the Reindex button if Maizey indexing was busy.
  • Fixed an issue where the Maizey Google Drive connector would try to load unsupported file types, causing the indexing task to fail.
  • The following file types are supported in Google Drive connector: .txt, .docx, .md, .pdf (text searchable), .xlsx, .xls, .csv, .html, .htm, .pptx, Google Docs and Google Sheets

MiMaizey

New Features

  • MiMaizey now includes a conversation memory feature, enabling it to recall previous queries and responses within individual conversations, providing smoother and more context-aware interactions throughout each session. 
  • MiMaizey now understands additional information about the user.
    • Example: Asking "Who Am I?" will return "John Doe, regular staff member at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor campus."
  • MiMaizey now includes web search functionality, enabling it to search within University of Michigan websites to provide up-to-date and comprehensive information
    • Supported domains include: *.umich.edu, *.mgoblue.com, *.michigandaily.com, *.umdearborn.edu, *.umflint.edu, *.uofmhealth.org.

Improvements

  • Enhanced MiMaizey's ability to handle timeouts and network disruptions.
  • Updated MiMaizey’s loading interface to make it more responsive.
     

September 26, 2024

Accessibility Enhancements

  • Implemented various accessibility improvements in MiMaizey for a better user experience.

New Feature:  Debugging Tool for Maizey Projects

  • A new feature has been added to Maizey designed to assist technicians in troubleshooting issues with your Maizey project more efficiently.
  • Project owners can choose if and when to enable this feature in a project.
  • Designed with a focus on privacy and user consent before technicians are able to view activity logs.

Enhancements

  • AI responses now properly support LaTeX formatting for mathematical expressions and symbols.
  • Links within responses are configured to open in new tabs for a better user experience.
  • Updated details displayed in the Task Activity list to show the duration of the task’s completion.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where JSON would be displayed in the Maizey API configuration page.
  • Fixed an issue where CSV files would cause Maizey Canvas Projects to fail.
     

September 18, 2024

New Feature: MiMaizey

  • MiMaizey is a specialized AI assistant designed for the University of Michigan student community.

Core Features

  • Course Information
    • Provides information and support for courses integrated with Maizey AI tutors.
    • Answers questions about class materials available on Canvas.
  • Dining Menus
    • Offers up-to-date meal options from dining halls such as Bursley, South Quad, East Quad, and Mosher Jordan.
  • Student Club/Organization Finder
    • Helps students find and connect with organizations that match their interests via Maize Pages.
  • GenAI Help
    • Offers guidance on how to use U-M’s GenAI services like U-M GPT, Maizey, and the AI Toolkit.
  • Campus Information
    • Delivers information about university buildings including hours of operation, locations, and services.
    • Assists with navigating campus facilities such as the Michigan Union, Pierpont Commons, and libraries.
    • Provides details on transportation options, U-M bus routes, electric vehicle charging stations, and parking locations.
  • Student Support
    • Offers guidance on a wide range of student resources and services.
    • Directs students to support services for academic, personal, fitness, and health challenges.

September 5, 2024

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where setting up the Maizey integration in a non-academic Canvas course would result in an error.
  • Resolved Maizey task scrolling problem where task date/time would be obscured.
  • Fixed issue where Flint and Dearborn users would get an error when clicking the U-M GPT Maizey link in a Canvas course’s navigation menu.

Enhancements

  • Increased the URL limit in the Maizey URL extractor.
  • When “Return Data Sources” is enabled, Dropbox sources now show the relative path and are no longer linked.
  • Increased project name character limit to 255 characters.
     

August 22, 2024

New Model: GPT-4o (Omni) has been added to U-M GPT and U-M Maizey. It has a knowledge cutoff date of October 2023.

  • The GPT-4-Turbo model has been removed.
  • The GPT-3.5-Turbo model has been removed.

 

Maizey

  • Enhancement: Canvas Integration
  • Fixed an issue where users would get a 500 error if an invalid URL was added to the URL Extractor.

July 18, 2024

Maizey

  • New Feature: Multiple Data Source Support in Maizey
    • Users can now add multiple data sources to a single Maizey project, including any combination of Google Drive links, Dropbox links, and public website links.
    • Ability to edit / change Google Drive and Dropbox data sources after they’ve been added to a project.
    • Ability to reindex multiple data source connectors individually.
    • Ability to delete individual data sources.
  • New Feature: Data Source Indexing Scheduler
    • Users can now schedule reindexing of their Maizey data sources with either weekly or monthly schedules.
    • Each data source can be set to have its own schedule.
  • New Feature: Maizey API tokens
    • Users can now create an API token with Maizey for programmatic access.
    • Note: Maizey instances with API tokens will be billed for usage, even during rate holidays.
  • Enhancement: URL Extractor
    • Users can now use the URL Extractor to help retrieve links from specified public URLs. 
  • Enhancement: Google Shared Drives
    • Users now have the ability to use Google Shared Drives with Maizey
  • Fixed: Dropbox Team Folders
    • Fixed an issue where users were not able to select Dropbox Team Folders with the Dropbox data connector.  
  • Enhancement: Updated Embedding model 
    • Updated embedding model to text-embedding-3-large.  
    • Internal testing has shown an improvement in accuracy.

May 16, 2024

Maizey

  • Fixed an issue with the Google Drive and Dropbox connectors where indexing tasks would timeout.
  • Fixed an issue where Canvas course Pages were not being indexed properly.
  • Enhancement: Improved response parsing to ensure more natural and accurate outputs.
    • Hyperlinks now display in blue, making them easily distinguishable from the surrounding text.
       

April 25, 2024

U-M GPT

  • Fixed issue where conversations were sorted in the wrong order.

Maizey

  • Enhancement: Conversation Retrieval QA chain
    • The Conversational Retrieval QA chain has been refactored to provide better responses.
       

April 11, 2024

U-M GPT and Maizey have been optimized to increase reliability and reduce hung states or timeouts that prevent a response.

 

U-M GPT

  • Enhancement: Improved response parsing to ensure more natural and accurate outputs.
    • Bulleted/numbered lists now display with improved clarity for better readability.
    • Hyperlinks are now displayed in blue, making them easily distinguishable from the surrounding text.
    • Enhanced Latex/Katex support for better rendering of mathematical and scientific expressions.

 

Maizey

  • New Feature: Customizable Chunks setting
    • Background: When Maizey retrieves text from your indexed data sources, it breaks the data into smaller chunks of text in order to more efficiently determine relevance and produce a response.
    • You now have the ability to set a custom value for the number of data chunks Maizey uses to respond to your prompt.
    • The default Chunks setting is 4, but you can customize this number with a value between 1-100. Increasing this number allows Maizey to access more indexed data and may improve query responses. 
    • Caution: Setting the Chunks value too high may result in errors or slower response times.
  • Enhancement: For projects using Public URL data sources, you can now edit/update your list of URLs in the Maizey project settings.
    • Open your Maizey project, click Data Source, and then click Edit Source to modify your URLs.
  • Resolved an issue with certain PDFs that failed to index in Google Drive.
  • Addressed a problem in the Maizey billing dashboard where the current day’s data was missing.
     

March 21, 2024

The following Python packages were updated:

  • langchain

Enhancement: Logos have been updated to display better on mobile devices.

Maizey

  • Fixed a bug where Canvas rosters were not being synchronized in certain projects.
     

March 7, 2024

U-M GPT / Maizey

  • User interfaces (UIs) have been updated to improve performance in mobile browsers.

Maizey

  • Enhancement: Projects using public website(s) as a data source
    • The field in which you enter public website URL(s) being used as a data source has been redesigned to better facilitate a large number of URLs.
    • When listing multiple URLs, you can now list each URL on its own line (comma separated lists are no longer used).
    • Added URL validation to catch improperly formatted URLs. An error message will display if improperly formatted URLs are entered in the field.
  • Enhancement: Index Data button confirmation.
    • After clicking the Index Data button, a confirmation pop-up message displays before indexing begins.
  • Fixed an issue where Maizey project URLs would display incorrectly.
  • Fixed an issue where incorrect billing values would sometimes display.

February 22, 2024

  • The following Python packages were updated:
    • Langchain-core
    • Langchain-community

 

  • U-M GPT and Maizey have been optimized to increase reliability and reduce hung states or timeouts that prevent a response.
  • Fixed an issue where certain browsers showed multiple scrollbars in the conversations window.
  • Enhancement: Upgraded GPT-4 to GPT-4 Turbo.
    • GPT-4 Turbo can generate high-quality text, answer questions, and engage in conversation with improved fluency and context understanding.
    • GPT-4 Turbo has an updated knowledge cutoff, extending its awareness of events up to April 2023. 
    • GPT-4 Turbo introduces a 128k context window, equivalent to about 300 pages of text in a single prompt, allowing it to maintain a broader context during conversations. 
  • Enhancement: Adjusted display of the textbox in mobile browsers to eliminate the need for scrolling.

U-M GPT

  • New Feature: The DALL-E 3 model is now available in U-M GPT, allowing you to generate accurate, highly-detailed, photorealistic images based on text descriptions.
    • U-M GPT users are limited to five images per hour.
    • Learn more about DALL-E 3, including an overview of features and tips to improve your experience.
       

February 8, 2024

  • U-M GPT / Maizey have been optimized to increase reliability and reduce hung states or timeouts that prevent a response.
  • Enhancement: Added a math equation and code formatter.
    • Math equations and code are now properly formatted in responses.
    • For example, ask to show code in Python or math equations in KaTex or LaTex.

U-M GPT examples showing Python code, KaTex and LaTex equations.

 

Maizey

  • Enhancement: Added a pop-up warning when changing the Chain option.
    • When changing the Chain option between Retrieval QA and Conversational QA, a warning now displays notifying users that making the change will reset their System Prompt.
  • Fixed an accessibility issue where Tab and spacebar keyboard commands wouldn’t correctly toggle the Private Project option when creating a new project.  
  • Fixed an issue where projects using Canvas as a data source would fail to index if the Description field was left blank in the Canvas Syllabus tool.
     

January 25, 2024

The following Python packages were updated:

  • langchain
  • openai

Fixed an issue where conversation history would sometimes not display correctly in the left sidebar.

Maizey

  • New Feature: Conversational QA
    • A Conversational QA option has been added to the Choose a Chain field within AI Settings.
    • Conversational QA allows Maizey to reference the previous chat history when it responds to a query.
  • Enhancement: Change Shortcodes
  • Enhancement: Billing dashboard
    • The Billing dashboard has been updated to improve usability.
  • Fixed an issue where Maizey would automatically retry indexing if it failed.
  • Fixed an issue where users were unable to click the Index button.
  • Fixed an issue on the main Maizey Projects page where the pop-up menu (accessed by clicking the three dots) would sometimes be obscured.

January 11, 2024

Maizey

New Feature: Chat Export

December 19, 2023

Maizey

New Feature: Billing Dashboard

  • We have incorporated a new feature, the Billing Dashboard, into Maizey. This addition allows users to monitor the accumulated project costs for the current month, or for a custom date range, from within your Maizey project.

Enhancement: Canvas Connector  

  • The Canvas Connector has been significantly improved to directly import users from the selected Canvas course, eliminating the need for MCommunity groups.
  • All students enrolled in a Canvas course are now automatically granted access to the corresponding Maizey project.
  • Users with assigned Teacher roles in Canvas are now automatically granted the ability to edit their Canvas projects within Maizey.

December 7, 2023

The following Python package was updated:

  • Langchain

Maizey

  • Fixed an issue where after creating a Maizey project, editing the System Prompt would cause it to reset to the default text.

November 30, 2023

Maizey

  • You can now select Dropbox as a data source for a Maizey project.
    • The following file types are supported: md, htm, html, docx, xls, xlsx, pptx, pdf, rtf, and txt.
    • Maizey can index any Dropbox folders you have access to (i.e., you are not required to be an owner of the folder).
  • Added additional accessibility enhancements.
  • Fixed an issue where Maizey would keep displaying data sources even after toggling off the Return Data Sources option.
  • Fixed an issue where users were unable to index a data source if it failed the first time.
  • After clicking the Index Data button, users are now notified that the indexing process has started.  

November 16, 2023

The following Python packages were updated:

  • langchain

U-M GPT

  • Increased rate limits for GPT 3.5

Maizey

  • Fixed an issue where AI Settings were not savable.
  • Fixed an issue where clicking Index Data multiple times created a backlog of tasks.
     

November 9, 2023

  • Fixed an issue with responses being covered by the chat box.
  • Fixed an issue preventing U-M GPT and Maizey from working correctly in the Safari web browser.    

Maizey

  • The Maizey user interface has been redesigned for an improved user experience.
    • Your Maizey homepage now displays all Shared and Private projects, allowing you to easily find and make changes to existing projects.
    • Redesigned common workflows to make them more efficient and intuitive.
    • Improved on-screen help text to better clarify project configuration options and fields.
    • Improved accessibility to be optimized for compatibility with common assistive technologies.
    • Improved functionality on mobile devices.
  • Fixed an issue preventing the View Data Source option from working correctly for projects using public URLs as the data source.
     

October 19, 2023

  • Temporary staff now have access to U-M GPT and U-M Maizey.
  • The Langchain Python package was updated.

Maizey

  • Two new fields have been added when you create a new Maizey project.
    • Viewer Group displays MCommunity Groups for which you are a member. Members of this group can use the AI tool you create.
    • Owner Group displays MCommunity Groups for which you are an owner. Owners of this group can edit the Maizey project you create. 
    • Existing Maizey projects will still use the original rules and permissions associated with the MCommunity group selected when the project was created. Group owners can edit the Maizey project, and group members can use the AI tool you created.
  • Enhancements made to improve indexing speed.
  • Fixed an issue where Personal Projects were not showing on the Check Task Results page.
     

October 12, 2023

The following Python packages were updated:

  • Langchain

Maizey

  • Added feature allowing Personal projects.
    • Users will not need to create an MCommunity group to create a Personal project.
    • Personal projects are only editable / viewable by the creator and cannot be shared.
  • Error messages will automatically be removed after a set period of time.
     

October 4, 2023

UMGPT

  • Fixed issue where responses would display in incorrect order.
  • Textbox improvements.

Maizey

  • Canvas Connector now indexes connected lecture recording sites from the CAEN Lecture Recording system.
  • A new View Data Source button has been added, which takes you to the URL of the data source used for your project.
  • Rate limits have been increased.
  • Fixed issue where Canvas data sources were not displayed correctly.
  • Added descriptive error messages when project or AI Settings are missing.
  • Fixed issue where the project would not be viewable if the data source is empty.
  • Removed extra trailing parentheses that were showing in returned Maizey sources.
  • Fixed issue where incorrect Creator name would display in the footer when editing a project.  
     

September 28, 2023

  • Updates were made to help prevent client caching issues after new releases.
  • The following Python packages were updated:
    • Langchain

Maizey

  • Fixed an issue where some URL’s were not being indexed.

September 21, 2023

  • Fixed issue so that the chat box no longer overlays on top of a response.

Maizey

  • Fixed issue where users were unable to view projects they had been granted access to.
  • Fixed issue where locked modules in Canvas would prevent Maizey from indexing the course. Maizey will now skip locked modules and continue indexing the rest of the course.
  • Fixed issue where users were asked to allow Gmail access when indexing from Google Drive. Users will now only be asked to allow Google Drive access.

September 14, 2023

  • Mobile-friendly UI changes for a more responsive layout
  • Fixed visual artifacts resulting from CSS overflow issues
  • Source links now open in a new tab
  • Large-scale frontend rewrite to address technical debt and improve performance/usability
    • Better WebSocket lifespan handling
    • Significant long-term maintainability improvements to client side codebase
      • Simplifies syntax
      • Addresses a variety of smaller issues / bugs
      • Reduces file volume and code sprawl / duplication
  • Bumped npm dependencies to latest compatible 
  • Bumped Python dependencies to latest compatible

Maizey

  • Updated to use GPT 4 instead of GPT 3.5
  • Added ability to set a project name/slug during project creation and project configuration; pre-existing projects will have their name/slug defaulted to their generated GUID
  • Fixed issue where default AI settings are not set on initial project configuration
  • Fixed issue where certain PDFs would cause a canvas course to not be indexed.
  • Fixed issue where role could not be checked for a project where the user was not an owner or a member (i.e. public-facing)
  • Fixed project permissions when creating a new project and using an MCommunity group where you are an owner but not a member
  • Added ability to conditionally list projects that a person has access to configure
  • Added features for better handling for unauthorized/unready views:
    • Non-published sites will not be accessible through the slug or configuration URLs to non-owners or when the project is indexing
    • Public, open-to-all sites will not show on the list projects view
    • Added API to check a user’s role in a project