AI Chatbot Developed by Students to Represent HIT at AWS Hackathon

An AI chatbot developed by a team of students will represent HIT at the AWS hackathon.

Hadas Lorber and Dr. Refael Barkan with the winning team members

In a special event recently held at HIT, a project was selected to represent the institute at the national AWS (Amazon Web Services) hackathon titled: "How to implement technological innovation in the public sector?"
Three student teams competed for the opportunity to represent HIT at the hackathon. The challenge presented to them was to develop an AI chatbot that would accompany students throughout their academic journey, help reduce student dropout rates and empower them.

The chatbots developed by the three teams:
 

• Mindmate – An emotional and psychological companion for students, including support for dealing with post-trauma.
• Study Buddy – A personal assistant for managing academic workload, grades, and ongoing support.
• MentorHIT – A personal academic advisor, based on matching professional inclinations and course and content selection.

The winning team that developed MentorHIT included Noy Klar, Dvir Oliel, Daniel Podolsky (from the School of Computer Science), and Lior Lamchinsky (from the M.Sc. program in Data Science). The team will represent HIT at the national AWS hackathon scheduled for next month.

This marks the first event under the Institute for Applied Research in Responsible Artificial Intelligence and represents another step in strengthening the partnership with AWS. As part of this initiative, company representative Daniel Dorfman, himself a graduate of the institute, attended the presentations, asked students targeted questions, and joined the judging panel.

Head of the Institute for Applied Research in Responsible Artificial Intelligence, Hadas Lorber, opened the event with these words: "We are embarking on a journey with ethical significance and purpose, at the end of which we will succeed in changing the way students experience academia. We see AWS as a partner in our vision – one that understands the power and responsibility inherent in AI and seeks to harness technology for empowerment, with the student at the center."

The integration of academic excellence, social responsibility, and cutting-edge technology that defines HIT's mission has never been more important than today. This event exemplified these core values and serves as an inspiration for students and faculty to engage in similar forward-thinking initiatives.