Google Scores a Touchdown at Ohio State: A New Era for AI Fluency | AI Insights with Andy

Google Scores a Touchdown at Ohio State: A New Era for AI Fluency

by Andy Vogel

For what feels like the past 30 years—or “forever,” as one colleague put it—Google was the forbidden fruit at The Ohio State University. Faculty and staff were discouraged from using, advocating for, or even touching Google tools due to longstanding terms and conditions. But in a matter of weeks, everything changed. 
 
Thanks to a push from the university Provost to expand AI fluency, OSU is now officially a Google campus. That means we’re embracing Google Docs, Slides, and most notably, Gemini and its suite of AI agents—alongside our existing Microsoft ecosystem. For many of us who’ve had to play the role of “Google ban enforcer,” this shift feels surreal. But for faculty who’ve long championed the adoption of Google tools—especially those familiar with their prevalence in K–12 education—it’s a welcome change. 
 
We’re still a Canvas campus, not a Google Classroom shop, but this move opens up new possibilities—and new challenges. Supporting multiple AI agents and document ecosystems raises questions about training, sharing, and cognitive load. But more on that in a future post. 

For many of us who’ve had to play the role of “Google ban enforcer,” this shift feels surreal.

The Kickoff: Google at the Stadium 

Google’s touchdown moment came at the stadium, where faculty, CIOs, and instructional designers like myself gathered around two tracks: education and research. While much of the content covered foundational AI concepts—like building your own notebook LLM— I walked away with fresh ideas. 
 
One standout moment: uploading my CV and digital portfolio into a notebook and asking Gemini how I could improve my digital footprint. Another highlight was “GrantFlow,” a tool designed to streamline the grant-writing process by helping researchers gather and organize materials more effectively. 

I walked away with fresh ideas. 

Ethics in the Age of AI 

Of course, no AI event is complete without a healthy dose of ethics. I asked whether other universities are using AI to score IRBs or even generate them from the end-user side. While there wasn’t a definitive use case, Google emphasized fluency over automation—encouraging ethical engagement with AI rather than copy-paste shortcuts. 

Hands-On? Not Quite Yet 

The event was long, and while informative, I would’ve loved more hands-on time to create materials and collaborate in groups. Hopefully, future workshops—especially those aimed at students—will offer that. Google has already provided OSU with free licenses for their pro model, which complies with intentional data policies and emphasizes privacy. Seeing our security team present alongside Google reps was reassuring. 

More Tools, More Work? 

This expansion brings excitement—but also complexity. More tools mean more options, but ironically, more work for support staff. As AI streamlines workflows, we must ensure we don’t cognitively overload our end users. One student summed it up perfectly: “We have Microsoft. OpenAI provides free licenses. Now we have Google. What’s the pathway?” 
 
The consensus? Be flexible. Choose the tool that fits your needs. Time will tell which platform students gravitate toward—but they’re clearly the biggest customer base in this new AI landscape. 

Be flexible. Choose the tool that fits your needs.