Arbor AI FAQ's

This article covers common questions regarding AI in Arbor. For more information on Arbor AI, see our dedicated section of the Help Centre on this subject here. You can also find our Arbor AI Fair Usage Policy in this article.

What is Arbor AI?

Arbor AI is a collection of new, AI-powered features which we will be adding to Arbor on a rolling basis. Our goal is to seamlessly integrate AI throughout Arbor, using it to make your every day tasks even easier.

You will know when a feature is powered by AI because you will see the Arbor AI icon next to it. 

How much do Arbor AI features cost? 

Depending on the AI feature, the feature will either be free, included in an Arbor tier, or an additional paid feature.

We want to offer many of our AI features for free, as we believe that they are directly aligned with our mission of transforming how schools work for the better. Our usage policy for all Arbor AI features can be found here.

What can Arbor AI do?

Currently, Arbor will help users:

Draft communications to staff, students, and guardians

Provide an instant summary of a student's performance

Suggest a new Custom Report Writer formula by using plain English

We are also testing a wide range of other AI features in Arbor Labs which we will be releasing soon.

Ask Arbor chat

Ask Arbor a question and automatically:

• Understand patterns and trends in student attendance and behaviour
• Summarise student performance and build PDF reports to export and share with others
• Build custom reports in plain English
• Find out where students and staff are at any given moment
• Locate and book free rooms
• Draft an email
• Record absences
• Set up Interventions

How is student and staff data processed by Arbor AI?

It is important to note that any student or staff data processed by Arbor AI is not stored or retained to train the Open AI model.

When you ask Arbor AI to perform a task, it uses an AI model to determine how to find the information you need. Arbor AI then checks what information you have permission to access before retrieving the information needed to complete the task.

We have ensured that Arbor AI complies fully with all data protection standards and legislation, including the following:

UK Data Protection and GDPR Compliance

We adhere to all legislation relating to data protection, the processing of personal data, privacy and/or electronic communications in force and as amended, extended or re-enacted from time to time in the UK including the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018), the UK GDPR (as defined in the DPA 2018) and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (or any replacement of the same), ensuring that your data is processed lawfully, fairly, and transparently.

Data Protection Impact Assessments

We have conducted thorough formal assessments to identify and prevent any potential risks associated with our AI services.

Contractual Agreements

We have established strict contractual agreements with Open AI to ensure that they process data in compliance with UK data protection laws.

Ongoing Compliance Monitoring

We continuously monitor and update our practices to align with any changes in data protection regulations.

Is Arbor AI covered by Arbor's Terms of Use?

Yes, Arbor's AI tool forms part of our Services. Your data may be used as an input for our AI tool witin our Services ("Input") resulting in an output generated by the AI tool ("Output"). You can read more about it in Section 6 of Arbor's Terms of Use.

Where and how is data stored and processed during AI operations?

Arbor makes use of Open AI's models. Any data processed as part of Arbor's AI functionality is not stored or used by Open AI to train these AI models.

In accordance with our Terms and Conditions, Open AI is now an Arbor data sub-processor.

Open AI processes data in compliance with all relevant Data Protection Legislation. See the Open AI privacy statement for more information.

How do I control access to Arbor AI?

Please visit our dedicated Help Centre section here on how to manage your school's Arbor AI access.

Who has access to Arbor AI?

From 19th December, Arbor AI is enabled for all users by default. Users with the 'Head Teacher' business role can manage access to Arbor AI (See the Can Arbor's AI functionality be turned off? section at the bottom of this article for information on how to do this).

Does Arbor record my AI usage?

All Arbor AI requests are logged by Arbor. The logs include:

• The user making the request
• Details of the request, including prompts
• The response given by Arbor AI
• The "tools" invoked by the Ask Arbor chatbot
• Any follow-up requests

We use these logs to help our AI team make further improvements to Arbor AI, and use them to diagnose any problems.

Can Arbor AI make decisions autonomously?

No, a user must always initiate any interactions with Arbor's AI functionality.

Arbor AI cannot take action on your behalf. All AI-generated content and/or actions must always be confirmed by a user.

For example, when creating an Arbor AI 'Student Report':

• The user must click on 'Student Report' to initiate the report generation
• After the content is generated, the user is shown a preview of the report. The report will not be shared with anyone unless the user decides to do so.

Why is US English often used in AI responses?

We use Open AI's models to generate responses. These models have been trained primarily in English content from the United States. This means that the responses tend to follow a US English writing style, even when "British English" is specified.

We will continue to monitor developments in LLM (Large Language Model) responses. Should it be possible to specify British English as a default language, we will adopt that.

Do I have to use Arbor's AI functionality?

No, but having Arbor AI turned on should help you work smarter and more efficiently. It is free, so we hope that you give it a go! Access is fully controllable by the school, and our Help Centre documentation here provides guidance on how to do this.