Got an IT question? UBC faculty, staff and students can now ask a chatbot.
The new feature appears on the lower right-hand side of every it.ubc.ca website page. Developed entirely in house by the UBC Digital Experience Lab (DxL) and IT Communications, it is UBC’s first home-grown public-facing chatbot. The chatbot, which launched June 9, is powered by Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and now in beta testing for three months.
“The chatbot supports our broader Digital Ecosystem priority,” says Aarti Paul, Director, Engagement Services, UBC IT “which focuses on improving digital access for the UBC community and adoption of AI automation to create efficient and accurate self-service options for our users.”
The aim is to make it easier for the UBC community to find tools and services quickly and seamlessly, says Frederik Kjaer Svendsen, UBC IT Senior Software Developer, who developed the chatbot. For example, if a person is looking for set-up instructions that might be deeply nested on the site or tucked away in a PDF, the chatbot can retrieve that information. For details on how to connect to wireless or set up a new email account, the chatbot can offer a step-by-step guide “from a variety of sources in an easily digestible way.” Says Svendsen, who is excited about the new tool’s potential: “We built all the interfaces and server software from scratch, so it’s our own solution. There’s no third-party provider and we are platform agnostic, so not tied to a specific supplier. That was intentional: the fewer providers you’re dependent on, the more accessible we can make it.”
Working together with DxL, the IT Communications team assisted in designing the chatbot’s interface and user experience. Their expertise ensured that the tool would be not only functional but also intuitive and accessible for a wide range of users. From crafting the conversational tone to shaping the flow of interaction, their UX guidance was integral to making the chatbot feel like a natural extension of the IT website.
Users can type a question or request conversation-style into a prompt. The team spent months inputting knowledge relevant to queries users might have when it comes to the IT website. The chatbot scrapes some 400 knowledge-base articles, news posts and anything publicly available on the main IT, Privacy Matters and Generative AI websites, and then supplies answers. The bot will remember questions asked throughout the session to keep the discourse moving. If a person doesn’t get the right response, repeated questions will yield more accurate information.
“It’s a helpful UBC IT assistant,” Svendsen says.
The development team is now soliciting feedback from users on what’s working and what’s not; how accurate the results are; and asking for suggestions on other bots that may be needed—services beyond chat that expand into augmented retrieval. The team doesn’t review the questions asked by users or the information users share with the chatbot, in adherence to a strict privacy policy. If a question doesn’t provide correct information or is not detailed enough, the team will improve it.
“We’re trying to make it as helpful as possible,” Svendsen says. “We are always open to requests on creating new solutions. The ideas we get are quite exciting.”
His advice to faculty, students and staff?
“If you’re curious, go for it!” Svendsen says. “AI isn’t going away, and if used well, it can be hugely beneficial. It’s about embracing what’s here. It’s a tool and helper to make you more efficient. It doesn’t replace the human in you.”
For more information on an AI products or services, inspiration, guidance or questions, visit AI Services on the UBC IT website, or contact DxL to discuss at ai.it@ubc.ca
Test out the UBC IT Chatbot and give feedback.
