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How can I build my own chatbot?

Overview

In this interactive lesson, students will learn about AI prompting by designing, customizing, and testing their own chatbot. They will consider how instructions impact AI’s performance, and they will discuss the potential and risks of creating custom chatbots.

  • AI & You
  • 60 minutes
  • Created by Reuben Thiessen & Chris Mah
build-a-bot-workshop-graphic

Digital Materials

Objectives

After this experience, students will be able to

  • Design a chatbot that addresses a specific user need, incorporating key elements such as conversation flow, user intents, and responses.
  • Customize a chatbot’s responses and interaction patterns to align with a predefined personality and user engagement goals, using at least one customization technique discussed during the workshop.
  • Apply testing methodologies to assess chatbot functionality and user experience and use feedback to make iterative improvements to their chatbot prototype.

Questions explored

  • What are the characteristics of an effective system prompt?
  • How do small changes to system prompts impact a chatbot’s performance?
  • What are the possible risks and benefits of using a custom chatbot?

Key Terms

Artificial Intelligence
The ability of computers to imitate human-like thinking, learning, and problem-solving.
Prompt
The initial context or instruction given to a model that sets the task or query for it to respond to or act upon. A prompt defines the scope of the response, serving as guidelines for generating outputs based on the given input.