How Our AI Search Works
Learn how UC Research Connect's AI search works - where its answers come from, how your questions are handled, and its limits - so you know how far to trust it.
University of Canterbury (UC) Research Connect includes an AI search. You can ask a question in your own words, and where it can, the search gives you a written answer rather than only a list of links.
It is built for industry, government and community partners, so you can find UC researchers, expertise and equipment without knowing where to look or what to call it. This page sets out where the answers come from, what the search cannot do and what happens to the questions you type, so you can judge for yourself how far to trust it.
How it works
When you ask a question, the AI search works out what you are asking about, looks through approved UC information for relevant material, and writes a short answer from what it finds.
Every answer lists the sources it used. We recommend opening them. The answer is a summary, and the source record is the authoritative version.
Before an answer reaches you, a second AI check reviews it against the sources it came from. The search platform calls this a guardian agent. If that check is not confident the answer is accurate, you are shown standard search results instead of a written answer.
Where the answers come from
Answers are built from UC’s own information, not from the open internet.
At launch the search draws on UC’s research information system, which holds researcher profiles, publications, projects and equipment records.
The search does not browse the web and cannot answer from sources UC has not approved.
Your data and privacy
The search is provided for UC by an external search provider. UC decides what the search covers. The provider runs the platform and holds the questions people submit.
The provider stores questions without any link to the person who asked them, so a question cannot be attributed to you.
Personal information is removed automatically. IP addresses are not tracked, and each conversation is identified by an anonymous code, known as a session hash, rather than by anything that identifies you.
The provider encrypts questions while they are sent and while they are stored.
Your questions are not used to train or improve the large language models that generate the answers. Questions stay within the provider’s cloud environment and are not passed to any other AI service.
Access to stored questions is limited to authorised personnel.
Scope and limits
The search covers UC research information. It is not a general university assistant, so it cannot help with admissions, courses or student services.
If you ask about something the search does not cover, it will not attempt an answer. You will be shown standard search results instead, or pointed to a way of getting in touch.
AI can get things wrong. An answer can be incomplete, or can summarise a source in a way that changes its meaning. Check the sources listed with any answer before you act on it.
Talking to a person
The search will sometimes point you to a person rather than attempt an answer. You can also skip the AI search altogether.
If you would rather search directly, you can search UC expertise and equipment records without the AI here.
If you would rather talk to someone, or you have not found what you need, contact us here.
