Artificial Intelligence

Element451 Introduces Gen AI Assistants for Higher Education

• By Kate Lucariello
• 05/08/24

Higher education student engagement platform Element451 has introduced two new tools to its AI-powered system: Bolt AI Assistants and Bolt Discovery.

The two generative AI tools provide personalized help to students and staff, and fast, accurate, and timely information, the company said.

Developed specifically for higher education, Bolt AI Assistants are personalized "team members" that give "tailored responses to specific objectives" and are "trained to handle specific roles and tasks," the company said in a release. Currently available AI Assistants include:

• Academic advisors;
• Career coaches;
• Financial aid advisors;
• Admissions advisors;
• Campus life advisors;
• Support peers;
• Program advisors;
• Design assistants;
• Copywriters;
• Campaign strategists;
• Events managers;
• Marketing advisors; and
• Data analysts.

The company continues to develop more AI Assistants for additional tasks.

Element451 CEO Ardis Kadiu said in the company's recent Generation AI podcast with co-host JC Bonilla that Element451's AI Assistants, unlike simple AI chatbots or agents, can access multiple skills and tools, reason, and hand off subtasks to other AI assistants, who then know what the previous ones have accomplished and can take it from there, much like a human team.

"We are building a team that works together and will do the hand-off seamlessly," Kadiu said, adding that this process is "like an agency approach, where different tasks are handed off to different team members" to augment what the human user is doing.

"Hopefully this will make it easier to support students and staff and help [one person] do the work of five," he said.

Bolt Discovery is an information hub designed to search "an institutional knowledge base in real time and offer up-to-date information on any topic," the company said.

The tool is a "dynamic and interactive information discovery tool" that can handle the challenges of the volume of information and its updates and contradictions, which can often slow down the enrollment process for students, the company added.

Bolt Discovery "delivers accurate, context-aware responses to natural language queries and guides visitors deeper into their topic of interest, ensuring a comprehensive understanding and intuitive experience," the company said, greatly reducing time and enhancing satisfaction.