International students, here’s how AI can help you at uni

The best AI chatbots — powered by artificial intelligence (AI) — can help level up your life as an international student.

AI chatbots learn through interacting with humans. This process is called machine learning. 

The smarter they become, the more they feel like humans, which makes them artificially intelligent. Not all AI chatbots have achieved this level — but the best AI chatbots out there have.

Glance at your university’s website, and you’ll likely encounter an AI chatbot programmed to clear your doubts. Take Queen’s University Belfast, for example. Scroll through their programmes, and Qubot is ready to assist you if you answer a few questions. 

Before we dive any deeper, let’s take a look at how AI chatbots can help to improve your life as an international student:

In the UK, two unis have seen the successful implementation of AI chatbots into the course-finding process and Clearing period, where thousands of students hope to secure their place on a university course after receiving their A Level results. Source: Luis Robayo/AFP

How can you benefit from using AI chatbots?

As mentioned, you can find these chatbots lingering around your university’s website. They guide you in picking a course based on your interests, budget, and chosen career paths.

A case study for international students at Jönköping University shows that students are satisfied with the AI chatbot’s guidance.

“If the university provides this kind of chatbot, the information that the student will get will be reliable, and it will be useful for them, instead of asking their friends or someone who is already studying there,” says one participant of the case study.

You can leverage these chatbots to transform your life in 2023. Think about using them to help you learn a new language, deal with culture shocks, or even write a cover letter when applying for a new job.

Don’t believe us? These best AI chatbots might change your mind:

Elon Musk is one of the founders of OpenAI, the company that built ChatGPT. Source: Jim Watson/AFP

3 best AI chatbots for international students

ChatGPT

Open AI’s (a research laboratory based in San Francisco, California) online chatbot, ChatGPT, opened for testing in December.

What happened next caught the world by storm. In five days, more than a million people signed up to test it, according to Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president.

You can do a lot of things with ChatGPT. It writes jokes, works computer codes and completes college-level essays. The next time you’re cracking your head on how to write your personal statement, try asking ChatGPT a question. 

Bear in mind that although it’s one of the best AI chatbots that have been heralded as the tech industry’s next big disrupter — and even potentially wiping out Google — it’s not a perfect machine. \

ChatGPT can give wrong answers and does not have a bank of information on current events, prompting it to give irrelevant or outdated answers. If all else fails, you can always rely on Google.

Replika

Did you have a tough day at school? Replika can help you. Talk to its AI about how you struggled to understand something in class or if Ms. Julie chastised you for being slow.

Replika is a safe space to voice your worries, such as feeling homesick, without being judged. The AI also discusses whatever you have shared with it, thanks to the power of machine learning.

This might be the confidence boost you need to power through a rough day. Don’t rely on it too much, though, as nothing beats a good conversation with a friend.

Forksy

Love going to the gym? Do you count your calories throughout the day? 

Meet Forksy AI. This chatbot is a new, fun, and simple way to keep a food diary. It can provide automated feedback to improve your eating habits, track your diet through a conversational food diary, and analyse your eating behaviour.

With this, you won’t have to stress about your next meal, can live healthier, and achieve your fitness goals.