\textbf{[AI]}~AI Setup

AI Setup#

Important

You are not allowed to use any AI in this course until Assignment 3, released on Sep 7.

However, you are required to sign up for AWS Kiro ASAP, as verification can take some time.

Free AI tools#

Important

AWS Kiro is the officially supported AI tool for this course. We may not be able to offer you technical support with other AI tools.

CMU students get free credits via AWS Kiro. Sign up instructions:

  1. Before completing these steps, ensure you are physically located in Pittsburgh and not connected to any VPNs.

  2. Navigate to Kiro for students.

  3. Click “Sign up and verify”.

  4. Sign in with Google and choose your @andrew.cmu.edu account.

  5. Navigate to settings and click on “I’m a student”.

  6. Fill out SheerID form with your legal name. Be sure to use your @andrew.cmu.edu email, no @cmu.edu email aliases.

  7. Wait a few minutes for verification, or post on Piazza with any error message you encounter. Screenshots are helpful.

Signing up for GitHub education should only take a few minutes, though it may at first reject your application. If you have trouble signing up, first follow the steps in the rejection message, then please reach out to a TA via email or come to their office hours.

Note: The application requires you to share your location to verify that you’re near CMU campus. The campus VPN is not sufficient. Being away from campus complicates this process, so it is best to complete this application in Pittsburgh.

Any student can get access to GitHub Copilot Student. Sign up instructions:

  1. Log in to your existing GitHub account, or create one. Ensure that you link your @andrew.cmu.edu email.

  2. Ensure that you have 2FA enabled. Do so at settings/security.

  3. Navigate to GitHub Education

  4. Click “Join GitHub Education”

    1. You may already be enrolled as a CMU student or another institution. It is best not to ‘re-verify’ your status since you may be unnecessarily rejected. If you’re enrolled, stop here!

  5. Click “Start an Application”

  6. Follow the directions in the pop-up window to complete the application. We suggest using the camera to take a photo of your student ID card.

  7. Once your application is accepted, you will receive benefits after 3 days. If it’s not accepted, follow the instructions in the rejection message.

CMU students get 4 free months of ChatGPT Plus. Sign up instructions:

  1. Navigate to ChatGPT for students.

  2. Click “Claim free offer”.

  3. Click “Continue with Google”.

  4. Choose your @andrew.cmu.edu account.

  5. Fill out the information.

  6. Verify your student status with SheerID. Be sure to use your @andrew.cmu.edu email.

Note: The offer must be claimed by October 31, requires a payment method, and renews at $20/month after 4 months unless you cancel.

Other paid AI services#

There is a long list of other AI paid AI services you might have access to already. You are strongly encouraged to use an integrated tool, i.e., a CLI like Claude Code or IDE plugin like Cursor, as opposed to copy and pasting code into a web or chat interface.

Most of these tools have a free usage tier, however, this tier will likely be insufficient for your work in this course.

Tool

Subscription

Monthly Cost

Claude Code (CLI or App)

Claude Pro

$20

Gemini CLI (CLI)

Gemini Pro

$20

Cursor (CLI, App, or IDE)

Individual

$20