{"id":228078,"date":"2026-01-11T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T19:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=228078"},"modified":"2026-01-14T13:28:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T23:28:33","slug":"uh-ai-chatbots-transforming-student-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/11\/uh-ai-chatbots-transforming-student-support\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Thanks dawg’: How UH<\/abbr>\u2019s AI<\/abbr> chatbots are transforming student support"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"10<\/p>\n

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> has reached a major milestone in its student success strategy with the impactful introduction of proactive AI<\/abbr> chatbots<\/a> across all 10 campuses. Designed to be one the many components that constitute a “common standard of care” for UH<\/abbr> students systemwide, the chatbots, with names like \u2018Bow and Moa, are demonstrating high participation with a 94% opt-in rate, and are earning gratitude from the people who matter most: the students.<\/p>\n[vc_video link=”https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/ezEh59H5unY” el_aspect=”916″ align=”right” el_id=”wrap-video-right”]\n

UH<\/abbr> students are embracing their digital “buddies” with enthusiasm, according to the EdSights fall 2025 report. They shared heartfelt messages such as, “thank you so much for your support throughout the semester,” and “I appreciate your help!” More informal student texts included, “Thanks dawg” and “thanks king.”<\/p>\n

Strong student engagement<\/h2>\n

Between August 1 and December 10, 2025, students across the state sent a total of 72,089 texts to their respective campus chatbots, such as UH<\/abbr> Hilo\u2019s Lehua and Kauaʻi<\/span> CC<\/abbr>\u2019s Koa. Engagement was particularly strong at Honolulu CC<\/abbr> (Niu) and UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span> (Pueo), where student engagement rates reached 62% and 61%, respectively.<\/p>\n

“Our AI<\/abbr> chatbots have become more than just digital tools for academic success; they are a 24\/7 support system that ensures no student at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> feels alone,” said UH<\/abbr> President Wendy Hensel. “By providing immediate answers and identifying those who need a human touch, we are meeting students exactly where they are—on their phones—and ensuring their path to graduation is clearer than ever before.”<\/p>\n

Saving time, scaling support<\/h2>\n

\"student<\/p>\n

The chatbots have proven to be an efficient resource for both students and staff. The AI<\/abbr> tool answered 4,294 student questions without any human intervention, saving staff approximately 357 hours. When students require deeper support, the system acts as a bridge; the bots facilitated 5,554 automatic connections to UH<\/abbr> resources and flagged 2,533 students for direct staff follow-up.<\/p>\n

The bots also initiate conversations at key points to gauge well-being. This fall, they identified 1,905 students feeling nervous or overwhelmed, flagged 251 learners struggling with a sense of belonging, and assisted 389 students who reported they were not enjoying their classes.<\/p>\n

The success of the rollout follows UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s receipt of a Community Connector Award at the 2025 EdSights PERSIST Summit, recognizing the university\u2019s leadership in using student voice data to foster innovation. UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa students accounted for almost 30% of the student texts sent systemwide, with 21,388 texts sent to \u2018Bow in the fall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Digital ‘buddies’ provide immediate answers, connections for UH<\/abbr> students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":228083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12],"tags":[1602,61,62,63,64,65,71,14,9,60,947,59,56,66],"class_list":["post-228078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","category-video","tag-ai","tag-hawaii-community-college","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-kauai-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","tag-maui-college","tag-uh-system","tag-uh-west-oahu","tag-video-2","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/system-uh-ai-chatbots-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228078"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228301,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228078\/revisions\/228301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}