mentorAI Settings & Options

Use Settings & Options to customize how your mentorAI looks, behaves, and interacts with users. Each setting helps tailor your mentor’s purpose, audience visibility, and engagement style.

🧭 Edit Mentor Overview

The Edit Mentor panel is where you manage and customize every aspect of your mentorAI. Each tab focuses on a different part of your mentor’s behavior, visibility, or capabilities — from basic setup to advanced integrations.

Available Tabs:

⚙️ Settings: Define your mentor’s name, description, category, and visibility permissions.
🧠 LLM: Choose which AI model your mentor uses and fine-tune its intelligence level.
💬 Prompts: Configure default, proactive, and guided prompts that shape how the mentor interacts with users.
🛡️ Safety: Adjust moderation filters and set behavior limits to ensure safe, respectful interactions.
❗ Disclaimers: Add custom messages or disclaimers for transparency and ethical guidance.
🔧 Tools: Connect your mentor to additional functions or APIs to enhance its capabilities.
🧩 Memory: Manage what information your mentor retains or recalls during conversations.
🕓 History: View and manage recent interactions for monitoring or improvement.
📊 Datasets: Upload or connect data sources your mentor can reference for more tailored responses.
🖥️ Embed: Generate code to embed your mentorAI directly into web pages or digital platforms.

⚙️ Settings

Example of the MentorAI “Settings” configuration panel showing name, description, category, and access options.

Setting Options	Functions, Examples & Tips

Setting Options	Functions, Examples & Tips
🧠 Name	What it does: Defines the mentor’s display name — this is how users will identify and search for it. Example: Research & Innovation MentorAI Tip: Choose a name that clearly communicates the mentor’s focus area or purpose.
🗒️ Description	What it does: Outlines what the mentor does, who it supports, and how it helps. Example: “Supports students in developing creative, well-structured academic and project ideas…” Tip: Write in a short paragraph, focusing on the mentor’s function and value to students.
🧭 Category	What it does: Groups your mentorAI into a specific domain or topic area, like “AI Assistance,” “Advisor” or “Artificial Intelligence.” Example: AI Assistance for AIs supporting research, tech, or data-related questions.
👁️ Who Can View?	What it does: Controls which users can see this mentorAI in the directory. Options include: Students: Visible only to current students Administrators: Visible to staff and admin users Anyone: Publicly accessible
💬 Who Can Chat?	What it does: Determines who can start conversations with your mentorAI. Options: Authenticated Users: Requires campus login (safest option for university AIs) Anyone: Open access (ideal for public-facing mentors)
💾 Save	What it does: Saves all entered information. Note: Make sure each required field (marked with a red asterisk *) is filled in before saving.

🧠 LLM

The LLM tab lets you choose the underlying AI model that powers your mentorAI. Different providers offer their own models — such as Google's Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude — each with unique strengths and response styles.

🤖 ChatGPT (OpenAI)	Great for structured reasoning, academic Q&A, and professional dialogue. Provides balanced performance and clear communication.
🌐 Gemini (Google)	Excels in research, data interpretation, and multimodal reasoning (text + image). Ideal for analytical or innovation-based mentors.
📚 Claude (Anthropic)	Strong at long-form writing, nuanced reflection, and summarization. Useful for writing support, analysis, or ethics-focused mentors.

Choose the LLM that fits the style and purpose of your mentor.
You can switch between models at any time to explore different response styles and performance levels.

The LLM determines how your mentorAI “thinks” and communicates. Different models may vary in tone, creativity, and depth of reasoning — try different ones to see what works best for your use case.

💬 Prompts

Example of MentorAI’s Prompts panel showing active System, Proactive, and Guided Prompts for the Research & Innovation MentorAI.

🧱 System Prompt	⚡ Proactive Prompt	🧭 Guided Prompt

🧱 System Prompt	⚡ Proactive Prompt	🧭 Guided Prompt
Use: Establishes the mentor’s overall purpose and tone. Think of it like a job description for the mentor.	Use: A short, automatic message that welcomes or engages users when a chat begins.	Use: Offers ready-made suggestions for users to click and start a conversation.
Use this for: Describing the mentor’s role and how it should support users.	Use this for: Inviting users to ask questions or share what they need help with.	Use this for: Common actions or student questions such as “Help me plan my essay” or “Explain this concept.
Tip: Keep it focused on what the mentor can do for the intended audience.	Tip: Keep it friendly, short, and open-ended.	Tip: Add prompts that match common campus topics or student tasks.

💬 Suggested Prompts appear as conversation starters at the bottom of your mentorAI chat window.
These help users begin a conversation faster by suggesting common or useful questions related to the mentor’s topic.

💡 Tip: Keep suggested prompts short and action-oriented — they work best when they feel like questions the mentor’s intended audience would naturally ask (e.g., “Find sources for my topic” or “Help me summarize this reading”).

🛡️ Safety

The Safety tab allows you to set moderation and safety rules for your mentorAI. These settings make sure that all conversations stay appropriate, inclusive, and aligned with Syracuse University’s standards for respectful communication.

Example of MentorAI’s Safety settings panel with active Moderation and Safety Prompts for maintaining respectful, student-focused interactions.

⚖️ Moderation & Safety Settings

Each safety feature works together to filter, flag, and respond to inappropriate or sensitive interactions:

Moderation Prompt:
Describes what types of user messages should be flagged — such as hate speech, discrimination, or personal attacks.
Moderation Response:
The message shown to users if their input violates guidelines. It reminds them to stay respectful and may include campus contact info (e.g., Barnes Center at 315-443-8000 for confidential support).

Safety Prompt:
Outlines what types of AI responses should be restricted — for example, messages that provide medical, legal, or financial advice.
Safety Response:
The message displayed when the AI blocks an unsafe or off-topic question, encouraging users to seek help from appropriate campus resources instead.

💡 Tip: Keep both prompts and responses professional, concise, and student-focused. Together, they create a balanced safety system — filtering inappropriate messages while redirecting students to the right campus support when needed.

❗ Disclaimers

The Disclaimers tab allows you to add advisory messages that appear above the chat window. These short notices remind users to review responses critically and understand the AI’s limitations.

mentorai disclaimer panel showing advisory message about reviewing ai responses

Example of MentorAI’s Disclaimer: “AI is capable of making mistakes. Please review all responses.

🔧 Tools

The Tools tab lets you manage what additional resources your mentorAI can access while responding to users.

Example of MentorAI’s Tools panel showing Trained Documents and Web Search features enabled for expanded functionality.

Enables the mentorAI to use materials connected in the Datasets section.
Use this for: Allowing the mentor to reference specific documents or files (e.g., campus guides, program FAQs, or academic resources).
Tip: Keep this enabled if your mentor is meant to give context-specific guidance based on uploaded or approved materials.

Allows the mentorAI to search the internet for up-to-date information beyond its trained data.
Use this for: Providing current information, resources, or examples that may not be in the dataset.
Tip: Turn this off if you want the mentor to rely only on approved Syracuse-related materials.

🧩 Memory

The Memory tab is designed to let mentorAI store and reference helpful information from past interactions.

Example of MentorAI’s Memory panel showing options to view, search, and categorize user memories for personalized mentoring.

Each saved memory can be sorted into a category for better organization:

Personal Information: Notes about user context, preferences, or goals (only when appropriate and privacy-safe).
Lessons Learned: Reflections or takeaways from past interactions.
Help Requests: Information about recurring questions or support topics students ask for.
Knowledge Gaps: Areas where users often need clarification, helping mentors improve future responses.

This feature is currently experimental. As mentorAI continues to evolve, memory will allow mentors to adapt to student needs more effectively while maintaining Syracuse University’s privacy and data protection standards.

🕓 History

The History tab allows you to view and manage all past conversations with your mentorAI. This includes reviewing chat logs, filtering interactions by topic or sentiment, and tracking overall engagement trends.

Example of MentorAI’s History panel showing options to search, filter, and export conversation data for review.

User Search: Filter past conversations by specific users.
Date Range: Narrow results to a specific period for analysis.
Sentiment & Topics: Review how students felt about the conversation and what subjects came up most often.
Export Option: Download interaction data for review or reporting.
Rating System: Displays an overall score (out of 5). A higher rating indicates better user satisfaction and response quality.

Note: New mentorAI’s will have no conversation data or ratings are available. Once more users begin using the mentor, this section will increasingly help track engagement and mentor effectiveness

📊 Datasets

The Datasets tab allows you to manage the training materials and knowledge sources your mentorAI can reference while responding to users. By connecting files, links, or cloud resources, you can help the mentor provide accurate, context-specific guidance for students.

Example of MentorAI’s Datasets panel showing active URLs and resources used to train the Research & Innovation MentorAI.

📄 Supported Data Types

Type	Function	Limitations / Notes

Type	Function	Limitations / Notes
PowerPoint / PDF / DOCX / TXT / Excel	Pulls readable text, titles, and notes to use as knowledge references.	Cannot read images, charts, or handwritten notes inside slides.
Google Drive / OneDrive / Dropbox	Connects directly to stored files in the cloud for continuous access.	Access permissions must allow mentorAI to view the file.
URL / Web Crawler	Uses website content to gather updated information or academic resources.	Must be a text-based site (not image-heavy or behind a login).
YouTube / Video / Audio	Uses transcripts or captions to extract educational or research-related information.	Requires transcript or subtitles to tokenize.
GitHub	Useful for research or coding-related projects where the mentor references repositories.	Reads text-based files only (like `.py`, `.md`, or `.txt`).
Image / ZIP	Reads any text metadata or OCR-extracted text (if available).	Cannot analyze the visual content itself.
Web Crawlers	Scans linked pages within a provided URL to gather additional related content.	Only captures textual updates, not images or media.

💡 Tip: To make the most of your dataset uploads, prioritize resources with text-based content like websites, PDFs, and guides. This ensures the mentor’s responses stay relevant and academically grounded.

🖥️ Embed

The Embed section allows you to configure how your mentorAI appears and functions when placed on a website or within another digital platform. This includes visual customization, permissions, and interactive features.

Example of MentorAI’s Embed settings panel with options for link sharing, context awareness, and single sign-on configuration.

⚙️ Core Features

Setting	Function	Notes / Example

Setting	Function	Notes / Example
Advanced CSS	Lets you style the mentor widget with custom CSS (colors, fonts, borders, etc.).	For advanced customization — ideal for matching SU’s brand style.
Icon Selection	Choose between a default icon or upload a custom icon (logo or mascot).	The icon shown in the Live Preview at the bottom right corner.
Mode Selection	Switch between Default and Advanced modes.	Default = simple chat only. Advanced = adds tabs like Summarize, Translate, and Expand.
Who Can View	Restrict visibility to Students, Administrators, or Anyone.	Most mentors should be set to Students (all university members are considered students in MentorAI). Select this option and the “Who Can Chat” option to Anyone to allow anonymous users, useful for public or website chatbots. (Options may change in future updates.)
Who Can Chat	Limit who can actively interact: Anyone or Authenticated Users (those signed in).	Useful if your site requires SU NetID or another login.
Website URL	The web address where the mentor will be embedded.	Used for generating a unique embed token tied to that domain.
Get Token	Generates an authentication token that allows the chat to run securely on that URL.	Likely required for linking the embed to an official SU page.
Context Aware	Enables the mentor to use the website context (like the page topic) when answering.	Good for mentors hosted on resource pages or help sites.
Single Sign-On (SSO)	Integrates with campus authentication so users don’t need to log in separately.	May be used by the IT department.
Open by Default	Makes the chat window automatically open when a user loads the page.	Helpful for welcome messages or proactive engagement.
Show Attachment	Adds an option to upload or attach files directly in chat.	Ideal for sending PDFs, docs, or screenshots.
Show Voice Call / Record	Enables audio interaction — either real-time calling or voice message recording.	Still experimental in many mentor setups.
Shareable Link	Generates a public link to share the chat outside the embedded site.	Useful for testing or sharing with teammates.
Create Embed	Finalizes all chosen settings and generates a code snippet (HTML `<script>` or `<iframe>`) for embedding on your chosen website.	This is code that a web developer or IT admin can use to add the mentor to a website.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

No. mentorAI does not automatically store personal data. Any saved memory must be manually added under the Memory tab by an administrator or creator/owner of a mentor.

mentorAI can only process text-based content. If your file or link mostly contains images or lacks visible text (like a scanned PDF), it won’t be tokenized properly.

Tokens represent chunks of readable text that the AI has processed. More tokens generally mean more data for the mentor to reference.

Trained Documents come from your uploaded datasets, while Web Search lets the mentor pull current information from the internet when responding.