The lawful, ethical, and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) is a key priority for Anthology; therefore, we have developed and implemented a Trustworthy AI program. You can find information on our program and general approach to Trustworthy AI in our Trust Center.
As part of our Trustworthy AI principles, we commit to transparency, explainability, and accountability. This page is intended to provide the necessary transparency and explainability to help our clients with their implementation of the AVA Responses to Student Messages. We recommend that administrators carefully review this page and ensure that instructors are aware of the considerations and recommendations below before you activate the AVA Responses to Student Messages functionalities for your institution.
How to contact us:
- For questions or feedback on our general approach to Trustworthy AI or how we can make this page more helpful for our clients, please email us at [email protected].
- For questions or feedback about the functionality or output of the AVA Responses to Student Messages, please submit a client support ticket.
Last updated: December 3rd, 2025
AI-facilitated functionalities
Anthology Virtual Assistant (AVA), a premium capability, includes the AVA Responses to Student Messages feature, which generates responses to common questions that students frequently direct to instructors—often related to information already available within the course. These routine inquiries can increase instructor workload and delay timely responses, and the feature helps address this by generating answers grounded in course content, reducing the burden on instructors and enabling students to receive certain routine, course-related information more quickly.
When a student sends a message to an instructor, the AVA feature determines whether the message is a request for routine information that AVA can answer based on existing course information or whether a question needs a response from the instructor. AVA Responses to Student Messages has been designed and tested to only provide existing routine course information and to decline requests going beyond such information.
If the feature determines that the question can be answered, it scans the course from the student’s perspective to identify the most relevant information and generate an appropriate response. Instructors retain full oversight and can review AVA’s replies directly within the message’s workflow and send a follow up message should it be required. The feature is designed to address questions related to due dates, grades, feedback, and course content—such as titles and descriptions—when this information is already accessible to the student in the course environment. It also considers accommodations or exceptions, provides direct links to course materials when available, and provides information on learner progress within modules if progress tracking is enabled.
The AVA Responses to Student Messages feature activates only when the message is sent to the Instructor role or to a role configured as “Treat Users with this Role as Instructor.” The feature will not generate a response when the message includes multiple students or when participants in other roles are included in the conversation.
These functionalities are subject to the limitations and availability of the Azure OpenAI Service and subject to change. Please check the relevant release notes for details.
Key Facts
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What functionalities use AI systems? | All AVA Responses to Student Messages functionalities described above. |
| Is this a third-party supported AI system? | Yes – The AVA Responses to Student Messages leverages Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service. |
| How does the AI system work? |
The system uses embeddings to identify and reference relevant course material. When sufficient material is available, it leverages the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to generate a response to the student’s question. For an explanation of how the Azure OpenAI Service and the underlying OpenAI GPT large language models work in detail, please refer to the Introduction section of Microsoft’s Transparency Note and the links provided within it. |
| Where is the AI system hosted? |
Anthology currently uses multiple global Azure OpenAI Service instances. The primary instance is hosted in the United States but at times we may utilize resources in other locations such as Canada, the United Kingdom or France to provide the best availability option for the Azure OpenAI Service for our clients. All client course data used for the input and all outputs generated by the AVA Responses to Student Messages is stored in the client’s existing Blackboard database by Anthology. |
| Is this an opt-in functionality? |
Yes. This feature is a double opt-in feature. Administrators need to activate the AVA Responses to Student Messages in the Blackboard admin console. Administrators can enable the feature through the Administrator Panel by selecting Building Blocks under Integrations, then Installed Tools. From there, they can locate the AI Design Assistant and Unsplash building block, open Settings, and enable the option for AVA Responses to Students under the AVA section. Once the feature is enabled by the administrator, instructors additionally choose whether to use AVA Responses to Student Messages by going to Course Settings and toggling on “Allow AVA to reply to messages from students.” All AVA features are off by default. |
| How is the AI system trained? |
Anthology is not involved in the training of the large language models that power the AVA Assisted Feedback functionalities. These Microsoft Azure OpenAI models are trained by OpenAI. Microsoft provides information about how the large language models are trained in the Introduction section of Microsoft’s Transparency Note and the links provided within it. Anthology does not further fine-tune the Azure OpenAI Service using our own or our clients’ data. |
| Is client data used for (re)training the AI system? | No. Microsoft contractually commits in its Azure OpenAI terms with Anthology to not use any input into, or output of, the Azure OpenAI for the (re)training of the large language model. The same commitment is made in the Microsoft documentation on Data, privacy, and security for Azure OpenAI Service. |
| How does Anthology use personal information with regard to the provision of the AI Al Text Assistant system? | Anthology only uses the information collected in connection with the AVA Responses to Student Messages to provide, maintain and support the AVA Responses to Student Messages and where we have the contractual permission to do so in accordance with applicable law. You can find more information about Anthology’s approach to data privacy in our Trust Center. |
| In the case of a third-party supported AI system, how will the third party use personal information? |
Microsoft does not use any Anthology data nor Anthology client data it has access to (as part of the Azure OpenAI Service) to improve the OpenAI models, to improve its own or third-party products services, nor to automatically improve the Azure OpenAI models for Anthology’s use in Anthology’s resource (the models are stateless). Microsoft reviews prompts and output for its content filtering to prevent abuse and harmful content generation. Prompts and output are only stored for up to 30 days. You can find more information about the data privacy practices regarding the Azure OpenAI Service in the Microsoft documentation on Data, privacy, and security for Azure OpenAI Service. |
| Was accessibility considered in the design of the AI System? | Yes, our accessibility engineers collaborated with product teams to review designs, communicate important accessibility considerations, and to test the new features specifically for accessibility. We will continue to consider accessibility as an integral part of our Trustworthy AI approach. |
Considerations and recommendations for institutions
Intended use cases
The AVA Responses to Student Messages feature is only intended to support the functionalities listed above. Its purpose is to help instructors manage routine student inquiries by generating replies based solely on routine information already available within the course. The feature is designed strictly for academic, course-related communication and should be used only to streamline instructor responses to common questions within that defined scope.
Out-of-scope use cases
While the underlying AI model has broad and general capabilities, AVA Responses to Student Messages has been designed and tested to limit its answers to routine course information. It is not a general-purpose AI system or an AI chatbot, and it is expected to operate within a narrow scope focused on summarizing existing course information. In particular, it is not intended to write discussion posts, assignments, essays, or other academic submissions, nor to perform research or generate explanations beyond the information already available within the course.
AVA Responses to Student Messages cannot read or extract information from uploaded documents, nor can it answer questions related to third-party content such as SCORM packages, OneDrive files, or external websites. It does not search the internet or any external storage locations, and it cannot provide details about institutional resources or services that fall outside the boundaries of the course environment.
This feature is not designed or intended to be an AI chatbot with broad capabilities. It is not intended to respond to any questions that go beyond routine course information. It is designed not to engage in general conversation, personal advice, or any dialogue unrelated to the academic context. For instance, it has been developed and tested not to provide responses to student requests for assistance with personal or family issues, stress or other mental health issues even if they relate to the specific course. As such, it is not designed to operate as an “AI companion” or any system that engages in emotional, relational, or ongoing personal interactions with users. We encourage clients to share this information with their instructors to help them decide whether to enable the feature, inform their students accordingly and exercise appropriate oversight over the AVA-generated messages.
Trustworthy AI principles in practice
Anthology and Microsoft believe the lawful, ethical and responsible use of AI is a key priority. This section explains how Anthology and Microsoft have worked to address the applicable risk to the legal, ethical and responsible use of AI and implement the Anthology Trustworthy AI principles. It also suggests steps our clients can consider when undertaking their own AI and legal reviews of ethical AI risks of their implementation.
Transparency and Explainability
- We make it clear in the Blackboard administrator console that this is an AI-facilitated functionality.
- In the user interface for both students and instructors, responses generated by the AVA Responses to Student Messages are clearly marked, distinguishing them from human interactions. The feature also introduces itself at the start of every conversation to make it clear that the user is interacting with an AI system.
- In addition to the information provided in this document on how the AVA Responses to Student Messages and the Azure OpenAI Service models work, Microsoft provides additional information about the Azure OpenAI Service in its Transparency Note.
- We encourage clients to be transparent about the use of AI within the AVA Responses to Student Messages and provide their students, instructors and other stakeholders as appropriate with the relevant information from this document and the documentation linked herein.
Reliability and accuracy
- AVA Responses to Student Messages has been designed to be grounded in course information and to just summarize available course information in order to minimize reliability and accuracy issues.
- We make it clear in the Blackboard administrator console that this is AI-facilitated functionality that may produce inaccurate or undesired output and that such output should always be reviewed.
- In the user interface, instructors are encouraged to review the responses generated by the AVA Responses to Student Messages for accuracy and to encourage follow-up as needed.
- As detailed in the Limitations section of the Azure OpenAI Service Transparency Note, AI systems based on large language models inherently entail a risk of inaccurate output (including ‘hallucinations’). While the specific nature of the AVA Responses to Student Messages and our implementation is intended to minimize inaccuracy, it is our client’s responsibility to review output for accuracy, bias and other potential issues.
- As part of their communication regarding the AVA Responses to Student Messages, clients should make their instructors and students aware of this potential limitation.
- Clients can report any inaccurate output to us using the channels listed in the introduction.
Fairness
- Large language models inherently present risks relating to stereotyping, over/under-representation and other forms of harmful bias. Microsoft describes these risks in its Limitations section of the Azure OpenAI Service Transparency Note.
- Given these risks, we have carefully chosen the AVA Responses to Student Messages functionalities to avoid use cases that may be more prone to harmful bias or where the impact of such bias could be more significant.
- Nonetheless, it cannot be excluded that some of the output may be impacted by harmful bias. As mentioned above under ‘Accuracy’, instructors are encouraged to review the responses generated by the AVA Responses to Student Messages for accuracy and to encourage follow-up as needed.
- As part of their communication regarding the AVA Responses to Student Messages, clients should make their instructors and students aware of this potential limitation.
- Clients can report any potentially harmful bias to us using the contact channels listed in the introduction.
Privacy and Security
- As described in the ‘Key facts’ section above, only limited personal information is used for the AVA Responses to Student Messages and accessible to Microsoft. The section also describes our and Microsoft’s commitment regarding the use of any personal information. Given the nature of the AVA Responses to Student Messages, personal information in the generated output is also expected to be limited.
- Our Blackboard SaaS product is ISO 27001/27017/27018/27701 certified. These certifications will include the AVA Responses to Student Messages -related personal information managed by Anthology. You can find more information about Anthology’s approach to data privacy and security in our Trust Center.
- Microsoft describes its data privacy and security practices and commitments in the documentation on Data, privacy, and security for Azure OpenAI Service.
Safety
- Large language models inherently present a risk of outputs that may be inappropriate, offensive, or otherwise unsafe. Microsoft describes these risks in its Limitations section of the Azure OpenAI Service Transparency Note.
- Given these risks, we have carefully chosen the AVA Responses to Student Messages functionalities to avoid use cases that may be more prone to unsafe outputs or where the impact of such output could be more significant. Testing has been conducted to minimize this risk.
- Nonetheless, it cannot be excluded that some of the output may be unsafe. As mentioned above under ‘Accuracy’, instructors are encouraged to review the responses generated by the AVA Responses to Student Messages for accuracy and to encourage follow-up as needed.
- As part of their communication regarding the AVA Responses to Student Messages, clients should make their students aware of this potential limitation.
- Clients should report any potentially unsafe output to us using the channels listed in the introduction.
- The feature is not designed to act as a more general chatbot. It has been developed and tested to not provide advice or engage in conversations about information beyond routine course information (including personal matters or health issues) or to operate as an “AI companion”, but rather as an academic tool focused exclusively on course-related communication (see section “Considerations and recommendations for institutions” above).
Humans in control
- To minimize the risk related to the use of generative AI for our clients and their users, we intentionally put clients in control of the AVA Responses to Student Messages functionalities. The AVA Responses to Student Messages is therefore a double opt-in feature.
- Administrators must activate AVA Responses to Student Messages in the administrator panel. Instructors can then enable the feature within their course for their students. Both administrators and instructors can deactivate AVA Responses to Student Messages at the course level or at the system level.
- Additionally, instructors can review all outputs generated by AVA Responses to Student Messages. They are encouraged to review text output and can provide follow-up if needed.
- The use of AVA Responses to Student Messages is optional. Instructors can continue using the standard (non-AI) approach if they prefer, and there is no requirement to adopt the AI features.
- The AVA Responses to Student Messages does not include any automated decision-making that could have a legal or otherwise significant effect on learners or other individuals.
- We encourage clients to carefully review this document including the information links provided herein, to ensure they understand the capabilities and limitations of the AVA Responses to Student Messages and the underlying Azure OpenAI Service before they activate the AVA Responses to Student Messages in the production environment.
Value alignment
- Large language models inherently have risks regarding output that is biased, inappropriate or otherwise not aligned with Anthology’s values or the values of our clients and students. Microsoft describes these risks in its Limitations section of the Azure OpenAI Service Transparency Note.
- Additionally, large language models (like every technology that serves broad purposes), present the risk that they can generally be misused for use cases that do not align with the values of Anthology, our clients or their end users and those of society more broadly (e.g., for criminal activities, to create harmful or otherwise inappropriate output).
- Given these risks, we have designed and implemented AVA Responses to Student Messages in a manner that minimizes the likelihood of misaligned output. AVA Responses to Student responses are deliberately grounded in the context of the course, and we heavily prompt the AI service not to provide information outside of this scope. We have also intentionally excluded potentially high-stakes functionalities. Testing has been conducted to minimize this risk.
- Microsoft also reviews prompts and output as part of its content filtering functionality to prevent abuse and harmful content generation.
Intellectual property
- Large language models inherently present risks relating to potential infringement of intellectual property rights. Most intellectual property laws around the globe have not fully anticipated nor adapted to the emergence of large language models and the complexity of the issues that arise through their use. As a result, there is currently no clear legal framework or guidance that addresses the intellectual property issues and risks that arise from use of these models.
- Given these risks, we have carefully chosen the AVA Responses to Student Messages functionalities to avoid use cases that may be more prone to intellectual property issues.
- Ultimately, it is our client’s responsibility to review output generated by that AVA Responses to Student Messages for any potential intellectual property right infringement.
Accessibility
We designed and developed the AVA Responses to Student Messages with accessibility in mind as we do throughout Blackboard and our other products. Before the release of the AVA Responses to Student Messages, we purposefully improved the accessibility of the semantic structure, navigation, keyboard controls, labels, custom components, and image workflows, to name a few areas. We will continue to prioritize accessibility as we leverage AI in the future.
Accountability
- Anthology has a Trustworthy AI program designed to ensure the legal, ethical, and responsible use of AI. Clear internal accountability and the systematic ethical AI review or functionalities such as those provided by the AVA Responses to Student Messages are key pillars of the program.
- To deliver the AVA Responses to Student Messages, we partnered with Microsoft to leverage the Azure OpenAI Service which powers the AVA Responses to Student Messages. Microsoft had a long-standing commitment to the ethical use of AI.
- Clients should consider implementing internal policies, procedures and review of third-party AI applications to ensure their own legal, ethical, and responsible use of AI. This information is provided to support our clients’ review of the AVA Responses to Student Messages.
Further information
- Anthology’s Trustworthy AI approach
- Microsoft’s Responsible AI page
- Microsoft’s Transparency Note for Azure OpenAI Service
- Microsoft’s page on Data, privacy, and security for Azure OpenAI Service