Meet SCOUT
What is SCOUT?
SCOUT is UC Merced’s AI assistant, grounded in UC Merced knowledge and built to help the campus community make sense of university information, services, and processes. It can help find information, answer questions, connect information across university resources, draft and summarize content, and more.
SCOUT is still evolving. New knowledge sources and capabilities will continue to be added as we learn how the campus community uses it.
Why does UC Merced need its own AI assistant?
General-purpose AI tools are remarkably capable, but they don’t necessarily understand how UC Merced works.
SCOUT is designed around university knowledge and context. That means it can help with questions that depend on our policies, services, documentation, and processes—not just information available on the public web.
Why wouldn’t I just use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or another AI tool?
You can. SCOUT isn’t intended to replace every AI tool you may already use.
SCOUT’s advantage, simply, is context. SCOUT has access to approved UC Merced knowledge sources and is designed to connect its answers back to those sources. For general-purpose questions, another AI assistant may work just as well (or better). For questions about UC Merced, SCOUT is being built to know where to look.
Why is it called SCOUT?
There’s a longer story behind that…
Visit About SCOUT to see how the name, icon, and idea behind SCOUT came together.
Why isn’t SCOUT available to students yet?
We’re beginning with faculty and staff because SCOUT’s current knowledge and capabilities are most relevant to their work.
We want SCOUT to provide meaningful value when we welcome students, too. Future integrations with student-facing university systems will make SCOUT considerably more useful for questions about courses, services, and the individual student experience.
Is SCOUT finished?
No—and that’s intentional.
Early Access is giving us an opportunity to learn how SCOUT performs during real work before making it available more broadly. What works, what doesn’t, what people try to do, and what they wish SCOUT could do will all inform where it goes next.
Using SCOUT
What can I ask SCOUT?
Start naturally. Ask SCOUT the same way you might ask a colleague for help.
For example:
- “How do I book airfare for a conference?”
- “Who can help me update my department website?”
- “What do I need to know about making a PDF accessible?”
- “Help me draft an email explaining this policy.”
You don’t need to learn “prompt engineering” before using SCOUT. If SCOUT needs more information, continue the conversation.
Can I ask SCOUT what it can do?
Absolutely. In fact, that’s often the easiest way to find out.
Tell SCOUT what you’re trying to accomplish and ask whether it can help. SCOUT can explain many of its current capabilities and limitations, suggest ways to approach a task, or point you toward another resource when something is outside its reach.
Keep in mind that SCOUT is still evolving, and it can occasionally be wrong about its own capabilities. The SCOUT website remains the authoritative reference for currently supported features and integrations.
Can SCOUT create content?
Yes. Like other generative AI assistants, SCOUT can help draft emails, summarize information, brainstorm ideas, revise writing, create outlines, and perform many other content-generation tasks.Where SCOUT becomes particularly useful is when that work benefits from UC Merced context. For example, you might ask it to draft a communication based on university guidance it has already helped you find.
Does SCOUT search the internet?
Not by default. SCOUT is focused on the knowledge sources made available to it by UC Merced rather than functioning as a general web search engine. That said, SCOUT has a separate option to conduct web searches you can switch to.
What are SCOUT’s beta capabilities?
Some new capabilities begin as focused beta experiences under the “Agents” menu to allow us to test them with the campus community before incorporating them more broadly into SCOUT. Current beta capabilities include support for digital accessibility and financial information. Visit Capabilities to see what’s currently being tested and what has graduated into SCOUT.
Can I use SCOUT for personal questions?
SCOUT is provided primarily to support university work, but incidental personal use is permitted under UC Merced’s Acceptable Use Policy. The same rules and safeguards still apply: don’t enter sensitive information SCOUT doesn’t need and remember that SCOUT is a university technology resource subject to university policies. For general personal use, another AI assistant may also be a better fit—SCOUT’s particular strength is its connection to UC Merced knowledge and resources.
What is a prompt?
A prompt is simply whatever you ask or tell an AI assistant. It might be a question, a request, some instructions, or information you’d like it to work with. Around here, we usually just call it a question.
Answers, Accuracy, and Feedback
Where does SCOUT get its information?
SCOUT draws from university websites, documentation, and other approved knowledge sources made available to it. When possible, answers include citations so you can see where the information came from and explore the original source yourself. As SCOUT evolves, we’ll continue expanding and improving the information available to it.
Why does SCOUT cite sources?
SCOUT is designed to show its work. When an answer draws from UC Merced knowledge, citations help you understand where the information came from, explore the original source, and verify important information before acting on it. Citations don’t guarantee that every answer is correct, but they make it easier for you to decide how much confidence to place in one.
Can I trust SCOUT’s answers?
Trust… but verify. SCOUT can make mistakes, misunderstand a question, rely on outdated information, or occasionally generate information that sounds plausible but isn’t correct. Citations are provided whenever possible so you can check important information against its original source. For consequential decisions, SCOUT should help you find and understand authoritative information—not replace the authority responsible for making the decision.
SCOUT gave me an incorrect answer, but the source it cited is also incorrect. What should I do?
SCOUT can only work with the information available to it. Sometimes an incorrect answer may reveal that the original university webpage, document, policy, or other sources need to be updated. If SCOUT accurately cited its source, but you believe the source itself is incorrect or outdated, please use the SCOUT Feedback Form and include the source SCOUT cited. We’ll work with the appropriate content owner to review and correct the information at its source. Fixing the source doesn’t just improve SCOUT; it helps everyone who relies on that information.
Can SCOUT make decisions for me?
No. SCOUT can help you find information, understand requirements, compare sources, and think through a task, but responsibility for decisions remains with you and the appropriate university authority. If a policy, process, or decision requires approval from a particular office or individual, SCOUT doesn’t replace that approval.
What should I do if SCOUT gives me the wrong answer?
Tell us! Use the thumbs-up or thumbs-down controls attached to SCOUT’s response. Feedback submitted there gives the development team context about the question you asked and the answer you received, which helps us identify and improve problems. For broader feedback about your experience with SCOUT, you can also use the SCOUT feedback form.
Why did SCOUT stop me from asking a question?
SCOUT includes safeguards designed to protect sensitive information and help ensure certain topics are handled through the appropriate university channels. If SCOUT detects sensitive information—such as Social Security numbers, financial account information, passwords, medical information, or authentication credentials—it may stop the conversation and ask you to remove that information before continuing. SCOUT may also decline to answer questions involving certain sensitive university matters where an AI assistant isn’t the appropriate resource. When possible, SCOUT will help direct you to the appropriate university service or resource instead. These safeguards are intentional. Sometimes the most helpful answer SCOUT can give is, “This isn’t something you should share with me,” or “This is a conversation you should have with a person.”
How can I help improve SCOUT?
Use it. The most valuable thing you can do is bring SCOUT the kinds of questions and tasks you actually encounter in your work. Use the thumbs-up or thumbs-down feedback controls when an individual response works particularly well (or doesn’t), and use our feedback form whenever there’s something broader you’d like us to know.
I have an idea for SCOUT. How do I suggest it?
We want to hear it. Use the SCOUT Feedback Form to share ideas for new capabilities, integrations, improvements, or anything else you think could make SCOUT more useful. If your feedback is about a specific answer SCOUT gave you, use the thumbs-up or thumbs-down button on that response instead. That flags the conversation and its context for the SCOUT team to review.
Privacy, Data, and Trust
What should I avoid putting into SCOUT?
SCOUT is approved to handle UC Institutional Information up to Protection Level 3 (P3), but you should still provide only the information needed for your request. Never enter P4 information, passwords, authentication credentials, or other secrets used to access accounts or systems. For more detailed guidance about appropriate use and how information is handled, see Trust & Privacy and the full Terms of Use. Not sure how your information is classified? Learn about UC Data Protection Levels.
Does SCOUT know information about me?
Only information available through the systems and knowledge sources SCOUT has been explicitly authorized to access.
SCOUT’s access will evolve as new integrations are evaluated, so we’re committed to being transparent about what SCOUT can (and cannot) access.
Can SCOUT access student information?
Not currently. SCOUT isn’t presently connected to systems such as Banner or Canvas that would provide personalized student information.
Those kinds of integrations are being explored for the future, but they would require appropriate security, privacy, governance, and access controls before becoming available.
How long does SCOUT retain my conversations?
SCOUT retains your conversation history for 90 days after your last interaction with a conversation. After 90 days of inactivity, that conversation is automatically deleted.
Conversation history is separate from SCOUT’s memory. Memory allows SCOUT to retain useful context across conversations—for example, information about your role or preferences—so you don’t have to repeat yourself every time. Stored memories do not automatically expire when a conversation is deleted.
You’re in control of your memory. In SCOUT’s settings, you can view stored memories, add your own, control whether SCOUT can create or reference them, and manage what’s retained.
Who can see my conversations with SCOUT?
SCOUT logs all conversations. Access to those logs is limited to authorized OIT administrators, and the logs anonymize the identity of the person having the conversation.
Administrators may review anonymized conversations for troubleshooting, security, and improving SCOUT. Using the thumbs-up or thumbs-down feedback tools in a conversation adds additional information to the conversation log, making it easier for the team to identify and review responses you’ve specifically flagged as helpful or unhelpful.
SCOUT’s stored memory is separate from conversation logs and is not visible to administrators.
Does SCOUT use my conversations to train AI models?
No. Your conversations with SCOUT are not used to train the AI models that power it.
SCOUT provides a managed layer between you and the underlying AI models. This allows UC Merced to offer different models while maintaining control over how university information is accessed and used. Your questions and SCOUT’s responses remain subject to SCOUT’s privacy, retention, and security practices regardless of which available model you use.
Under the Hood
Which AI model does SCOUT use?
By default, SCOUT uses Gemma 4, an open-source AI model provided by Google Deepmind. SCOUT also provides access to several other models, allowing you to choose one that may be better suited to a particular task.
The model can change; what makes SCOUT, SCOUT doesn’t. Its university knowledge, integrations, and safeguards are provided through the SCOUT environment regardless of the model being used.
Can I create my own agent in SCOUT?
Not at this time. Creating and publishing agents is currently limited while we learn how they can be used effectively and establish the appropriate technical, security, and governance requirements.
We are exploring ways to make more customization available in the future.
Can I add SCOUT to my website?
Not yet. SCOUT currently requires UC Merced authentication and is available only to approved faculty and staff, so we don’t currently support embedding SCOUT into university websites.
We are exploring embedded experiences as a future capability as SCOUT becomes available more broadly.
