What happens when you hand the mic to two Pathify leaders and ask them to talk about GenAI? Pure magic — and a passionate conversation on how Pathify’s GenAI Chatbot breaks down barriers in the student journey. Kyle Towstik, Pathify’s Technical Support Specialist, moderated a conversation with Chris Hagan, Chief Technology Officer, and Jeff Ledoux, Director of Product, where they discussed smoothing the student journey, providing answers to common questions and surfacing crucial services. Supporting students takes a village… and a secure, powerful virtual assistant.

Building a Better Digital Experience

GenAI fits right in with Pathify’s shared mission — removing barriers and building a better digital experience for everyone. With a complex future on the horizon — possibly a wristwatch beaming magical holograms into your eyes — Hagan pointed out, “It’s important to match the modes of content consumption digital natives bring to school.” Pathify’s Chatbot operates with the same single pane of glass functionality, differentiated and lower maintenance than other chatbots on the market.

Ledoux gave a peek into the key features powering Pathify’s GenAI Chatbot:

  • Authentication – Built for authenticated and unauthenticated use
  • Large Language Model – Runs on Google Gemini, the world’s leading LLM 
  • Integrations – Connect external systems (SIS, LMS, etc.) and return personal, verified responses (Pathify’s obsession from the very beginning)
  • Content – Connect a range of institutional information — from FAQs and websites, to resources and people
  • Adjusting Relevance & Weights  – Dial relevance thresholds and weights to test changes from the Admin Center (without using or training on data)
  • Branding – Tailor the chatbot’s appearance to align with institutional branding
  • Analytics – Drill down into chatbot usage, including the conversations, active users and messages sent

Overcoming Roadblocks

Roadblocks — awful on the highway and even worse when a student hits one a minute before their registration window closes. When asked about the types of roadblocks Chatbot solves, Ledoux pointed to common trends, “Class books, assignments, quizzes, grades, GPA, student ID and access to tools or services — most questions fall into three main buckets: academics, onboarding and support,” he said.

So, what kind of info do students pull through the Chatbot? Spoiler: it’s not just questions like “What’s my GPA?” Sometimes it’s, “What’s the best kind of cheese?” (For the record, Hagan voted Rochefort). Regardless of the question, the Chatbot pulls information directly and securely from the appropriate back-end system, not from Google. “All Google knows is the Chatbot furnished their GPA,” Hagan quipped. “And I say furnished because nobody’s quite sure how to spell received.” The beauty of Pathify’s Chatbot remains its ability to meet students in their “oh no” moments and provide personalized, timely answers — avoiding the stress spiral in a matter of seconds.

Desired Path(ify)

Hagan explained the concept of desire paths — informal paths created when people repeatedly take a shortcut. Often, people create these routes when a designated route takes too long. Just like those well-worn shortcuts, the bot offers faster, more intuitive routes to get students where they need to go. “Chatbot enables users to sort through information in a way that makes sense to them, rather than searching through tools in established menus,” Hagan said. No more wandering around, welcome to the desired Path(ify).

Students ask questions — they just don’t always ask in the way a traditional search tool expects. An inquiry like “what’s the money thing I need for school?” might confuse a standard search bar, but Pathify’s Chatbot gets it, returning information about financial aid, the Bursar and bill payment dates. Designed to handle unclear or casual phrasing — “maladroit language,” said Hagan — the Chatbot helps students find what they need… even when they’re not quite sure how to ask.

When the Bot Hits a Wall

What happens when the Chatbot doesn’t know an answer? “You’ll hear a distant explosion in the Pacific Ocean as an entire data center bursts into flames. Everybody will see it on the news,” Hagan joked. In reality, nothing catches fire. If a question stumps the chatbot, it falls back on the institutions’ built-in safety nets.

Barriers = Broken

Hagan and Ledoux closed the session with jokes about Gregorian chants, Dune references and a reminder the Chatbot will not sing in Chinese anytime soon. Between the lawn analogies and cheese debates, they emphasized the impact of Pathify’s GenAI Chatbot  -– in a competitive higher ed landscape, the tool simplifies the college experience and delivers top-notch student support.

Catch the full Pathify Chatbot session with Chris Hagan and Jeff Ledoux here.