{"631545":{"#nid":"631545","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Jill Watson, an AI Pioneer in Education, Turns 4","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s most well-known artificially intelligent teaching assistant, Jill Watson, turns four years old this January. The brainchild of \u003Cstrong\u003EAshok Goel\u003C\/strong\u003E, professor in Interactive Computing, and launched at the start of 2016, the virtual TA was introduced into one of the courses for the then-fledgling Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) program, now one of Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s largest graduate degree programs.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStudents and faculty would be forgiven in thinking Jill Watson is a single teaching assistant. Each course that utilizes the Jill TA has its own custom \u0026ldquo;knowledge base\u0026rdquo; that the AI leverages to answer basic student questions 24\/7.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/views\/JillWatsonTurns4\/Dashboard?:display_count=y\u0026amp;:origin=viz_share_link:showVizHome=no\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExplore the Timeline of Jill\u0026rsquo;s Growth\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition, a new AI, the \u003Cstrong\u003EJill Social Agent\u003C\/strong\u003E, was designed and launched in 2019 to explicitly connect students quickly and get them working together. The agent was developed in part as a response to high attrition rates that plague online learning in general.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe lead architect for the Jill Social Agent, \u003Cstrong\u003EIda Camacho\u003C\/strong\u003E, OMSCS \u0026rsquo;19, discusses\u0026nbsp;the\u0026nbsp;AI\u0026nbsp;on an episode of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gvu.gatech.edu\/tech-unbound-podcast\u0022\u003ETech Unbound Podcast\u003C\/a\u003E from the GVU Center. It\u0026rsquo;s a fascinating inside look at Camacho\u0026rsquo;s approach to building social structures for online education and her own journey as an OMSCS student.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOther major milestones from the Jill TA in 2019:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EIntroduced in residential classroom for first time.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EDeployed in first non-CS course (Intro to Biology).\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ECustomized to train users on the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/vera.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EVERA AI\u003C\/a\u003E, an ecology modeling system.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe new decade promises more educational advances made possible by the Jill Watson AI framework. Learn more at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/emprize.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Eemprize.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s most well-known artificially intelligent teaching assistant, Jill Watson, turns four years old this January.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech\u2019s most well-known artificially intelligent teaching assistant, Jill Watson, turns four years old this January."}],"uid":"27592","created_gmt":"2020-01-24 16:30:24","changed_gmt":"2020-01-24 17:23:58","author":"Joshua Preston","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-01-24T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2020-01-24T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"631547":{"id":"631547","type":"image","title":"Timeline: Jill Watson AI at 4","body":null,"created":"1579883925","gmt_created":"2020-01-24 16:38:45","changed":"1580406385","gmt_changed":"2020-01-30 17:46:25","alt":"Timeline: Jill Watson AI at 4yo","file":{"fid":"240330","name":"Jill Timeline at 4yo.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Jill%20Timeline%20at%204yo.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Jill%20Timeline%20at%204yo.png","mime":"image\/png","size":743294,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Jill%20Timeline%20at%204yo.png?itok=DDqVaflK"}}},"media_ids":["631547"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/gvu.gatech.edu\/news\/ai-agent-breaks-down-social-barriers-online-education","title":"A Closer Look at the Jill Social Agent"},{"url":"http:\/\/emprize.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech Finalist in IBM AI XPrize Competition"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/user\/10751784\/tu-ep10-jill-social-ai-online-learninG","title":"Tech Unbound EP10: Online Education Gets a Social Boost with Artificial Intelligence"}],"groups":[{"id":"1299","name":"GVU Center"},{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"576481","name":"ML@GT"},{"id":"431631","name":"OMS"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jpreston@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Preston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nResearch Communications Manager\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cem\u003EGVU Center and College of Computing\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}