AI Tools Matrix

Penn has launched PennChat, a secure University AI platform that has been reviewed and approved by the AI Privacy & Security Review Group for use with high-risk institutional data. Read the PennChat FAQ (opens in new tab)

Penn-licensed

marks tools covered by a Penn license and approved under Penn guidance for FERPA-protected course data, the safer choice for anything involving coursework or personal information.

AI Tools Matrix — AI tools by function and vendor
Function Anthropic OpenAI Google Microsoft Cursor Grammarly

Chat & Assistant

Conversational interfaces for asking questions, drafting text, summarizing documents, and general-purpose AI assistance.
Claude.ai (opens in new tab)
Long context, file uploads, deep reasoning
Anthropic Enterprise (Claude) (opens in new tab) Penn-licensed Contact IT Support Provider (opens in new tab)
Accessible to SAS researchers. ChatGPT Edu (opens in new tab) Penn-licensed
$13/month — faculty & staff
Contact IT Support Provider (opens in new tab) 		Gemini (opens in new tab) Penn-licensed
$20 or $30/month — ASC, SEAS & Wharton
Contact IT Support Provider (opens in new tab) 		Accessible to SAS researchers.
Copilot Chat (Basic) (opens in new tab) Penn-licensed
Free with M365
Activate here (opens in new tab)
M365 Copilot (Premium) (opens in new tab) Penn-licensed
$16.50/month — faculty & staff
Contact IT Support Provider (opens in new tab)
— Accessible to SAS researchers. Grammarly (opens in new tab) Penn-licensed
$87/year — Penn affiliates (annual commitment)
Contact IT Support Provider (opens in new tab)

Coding

AI-assisted programming — writing, explaining, and debugging code across languages. Includes sandbox environments for running scripts.

 Claude Code (opens in new tab)
Agentic coding, full codebase context
Terminal / CLI: Type commands in your terminal to let Claude autonomously read, edit, and run code across your entire projectDesktop app: A dedicated macOS/Windows application with a visual interface for managing parallel coding sessionsWeb: Browser-based access that connects to your GitHub repos without installing anything locallyIDE extension: Claude embedded directly inside VS Code, Cursor, or JetBrains so you never leave your editor
 Codex (opens in new tab)
Runs Python in sandbox, EDA
Web (ChatGPT): Access Codex as an agent directly inside ChatGPT without any separate installationDesktop app: A standalone app that runs coding tasks in isolated cloud sandboxes, keeping your local files untouchedCLI: Terminal-based interface for developers who prefer command-line control over the agentMobile: Monitor and approve running agent tasks from your phone while the work happens in the cloud
 Gemini Code Assist (opens in new tab)
VSCode extension, inline suggestions
IDE extension: Available in VS Code, JetBrains, and Android Studio for inline completions, code generation, and chatCLI (Gemini CLI): Terminal-based agent mode for agentic coding workflows beyond the editorGoogle Cloud: Embedded across Firebase, BigQuery, Cloud Run, and other Google Cloud products, making it more platform-like than a standalone tool
 GitHub Copilot (opens in new tab)
Deep IDE integration, PR reviews
IDE extension: Works across VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, Visual Studio, and Xcode for inline completions and chatCLI: Integrated with the GitHub CLI for natural language command suggestions and agentic workflows directly in the terminalDesktop app: A standalone agentic client for macOS, Windows, and Linux, currently in technical previewWeb (github.com): Copilot Chat and the coding agent accessible directly on GitHub, integrated with your repos, issues, and pull requests
 Cursor (full IDE) (opens in new tab)
Built on VSCode, most AI-native
Desktop IDE: A full VS Code-based editor combining fast autocomplete, autonomous multi-file agents, and native browser control in one app (macOS, Windows, Linux). Powered by Cursor, embedded with your choice of models.
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API / Dev

Programmatic access to AI models for building applications, automating workflows, and integrating AI into research pipelines.

 Claude API (opens in new tab)
200k context window
 OpenAI API (opens in new tab)
Most widely documented
 Gemini API (opens in new tab)
Generous free tier for prototyping
 M365 Copilot API (opens in new tab)
Enterprise-grade, HIPAA-eligible
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Open Models

Publicly released model weights you can download and run locally — no data sent to external servers, full control over your environment. Deploy via Ollama (opens in new tab) (free, self-hosted).

LLaMA 3 / Mistral (opens in new tab) Open weights
Best open models for general use; run via Ollama
 CodeLlama (opens in new tab) Open weights
Fine-tuned for code generation and completion
 Gemma 3 (opens in new tab) Open weights
Efficient; runs on a laptop

Research tools

Reference only. These are third-party tools researchers have mentioned. We do not recommend or endorse any specific product. Check access, cost, privacy, and funder or journal policies before use.

Elicit (opens in new tab)
Search and synthesize research papers
 Anara (opens in new tab)
Library-aware Q&A with citations
 SciSpace (opens in new tab)
Read, explain, and search papers
 Consensus (opens in new tab)
Evidence summaries from published research
 NotebookLM (opens in new tab)
Upload sources and explore them in conversation
 Plan Your Science (opens in new tab)
AI-assisted research planning
 Refine.ink (opens in new tab)
Peer-review-style feedback on drafts
 Prism (opens in new tab)
LaTeX writing workspace (formerly Crixet)
 GrantAI (opens in new tab)
AI-powered grant writing co-pilot for crafting compelling narratives and managing applications
 Granted AI (opens in new tab)
Search 85K+ grants and 133K+ foundations; section-by-section AI drafting and pre-submission peer review