Navigating life as a college student can be challenging, especially if you are a new student or the first in your family to attend college. 

Thanks to “chatbots” powered by artificial life, answers to questions like, "what is the deadline to file for federal financial aid?” are just a text message away.

In an interview for LA Times Today and Spectrum News 1, Tara Hughes from Cal-State Channel Islands explains how the technology works and how students bond with the bots.

In 2019, a few Cal States figured out how they can use the "chatbots" as a convenient tool for students.

"It was developed as a retention tool to message students to keep them on track to graduate to make sure they were registered and not missing any deadlines that would prevent them in their progress toward a degree. The university will send out a text to students, and the student can respond. And it's just meant to provide them with a little bit of information and a nudge to make sure they are doing all the tasks they need to do to stay on track," said Agrawal.

Each school in the system can personalize its bot to fit the students' needs.

"Our bot at Channel Islands is named Ekhobot, and Ekhobot was initially just like our other CSU campuses. It was involved in getting students engaged and helping them get to graduation, but as we got to know our bot, our bot developed a personality. Our bot has a winsome personality. It likes to tell silly dad jokes and get a laugh out of the students. It really borders a fine line between being helpful and sending information — but doing it in a fun and engaging way that it feels like a friend letting you know about these important deadlines and other information," said Hughes.

Students have responded well to the bot's ability to communicate and say it feels authentic.

"The bot takes a personal approach. They say hello to the student; they send emojis and GIFs, which takes a very casual tone. They knew they were talking to a bot, but say it feels like they are talking to a friend," added Agrawal.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit last year, students really confided in the bots and created bonds with them.

"As we all had to hunker down in our social distancing and to quarantine, it really left students bereft of those opportunities to connect like they normally did. They might get a message from the bot, and it prompted the desire to talk to somebody, and this bot is reaching out to them. So, it could be any time of day, sometimes in the middle of the night, if the student was feeling lonely or worried, they might text the bot and express the things that were on their mind because they did not necessarily have someone else to talk to and share those concerns with," added Hughes. 

If the bots don't understand or don't know the answer, they forward the message to a human being. The same goes for if a student texts a word or phrase the bot recognizes as a red flag, like a question about how to withdraw or thoughts about self-harm.

"There are trigger words that we were able to set up in our dashboard, so if a trigger word is included in a message, it will send an email to the appropriate person that we have set up in the bot. That allows them the opportunity to then reach out to the student personally and make sure there is an appropriate follow-up," said Hughes.

After the LA Times ran the story on Ekhobot, students reached out to the bot to show their appreciation.

"We had students text Ekhobot congratulating it and saying it was famous for appearing on the LA Times. That even had a conversation where they were going back and forth about what a great job the bot was doing, and the bot said, "keep up the good work too." It was just such a wonderful expression of enthusiasm for the bot that took me a little bit by surprise, but I thought it was very sweet," added Hughes. 

You can watch LA Times Today at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. exclusively on Spectrum News 1 and streaming live on the Spectrum News app.