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Penn State Building AI Student Concierge to Foster Student Success

In an effort to improve access to campus services, Penn State is partnering with IBM to build an AI virtual assistant for students. Powered by IBM's watsonx portfolio of AI products, MyResource will serve as a concierge that can help students discover and navigate the resources available to them, such as academic advising, health and wellness, and financial aid.

To create MyResource, watsonx.ai will be used to host, train, and tune foundation models with data provided by the university, IBM explained in a news announcement. "This will help the system promptly generate answers and recommendations with AI guardrails to detect and remove potentially harmful language or sensitive data," the company noted. In addition, the conversational search capabilities within watsonx Discovery will be used to help improve the quality and accuracy of MyResource's responses.

"At Penn State, student success is our priority, and this is an exciting step toward continuing to enhance the lives and experiences of students across our university," said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi, in a statement. "We're thrilled to collaborate with IBM to leverage advancements like generative AI, a critical tool to help us create a more student-centered experience, remove barriers, improve retention rates and further achieve a sense of belonging for all Penn Staters by allowing our students to navigate our institution seamlessly and intuitively."

"IBM is honored to co-create a solution with Penn State that will play a significant role in its goal to advance engagement from students through an AI-infused assistant," commented Frank Attaie, general manager for public sector at IBM. "Penn State students want quicker access to the important resources they need to be successful during their college experience and beyond. By integrating IBM's AI, Penn State can unlock new possibilities for its students."

MyResource is expected to launch at Penn State this fall; IBM said it plans to bring the solution to other higher education institutions in the United States.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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