California colleges spend millions on flawed AI chatbots

from Martin RomeroCalMatters

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California college districts spend millions of dollars on powered by artificial intelligence chatbots designed to help students navigate admissions, financial aid and campus services.

However, they struggle to consistently provide clear and accurate answers, leaving students frustrated and seeking help from others on informal social media channels.

When tested by CalMatters, they often answered general questions correctly but struggled with more specific ones. The East Los Angeles College bot couldn’t even name its own president correctly.

Contracts for these chatbots can be expensive and last for years. Three community college districts that responded to a CalMatters survey reported annual costs ranging from about $151,000 to nearly half a million dollars. In the Los Angeles Community College District, the state’s largest community college system, contracts and amendments approved since 2021 total about $3.8 million through 2029, according to documents of the regional council.

Area college districts that responded to CalMatters have contracted with chatbot platforms such as Gravyty and Gecko, which district officials say handle thousands of calls each month, many outside regular business hours, helping to reduce calls and saving students unnecessary trips to campus.

Some of these chatbot platforms rely on manually maintained FAQ libraries and campus websites to answer questions, which can lead to errors when information is out of date or questions fall outside the system’s database.

However, employees are working to improve them. Districts like the Santa Monica Community College District have switched to ChatGPT-integrated AI systems that scan the college’s website to generate answers that officials say appear more reliable. In the Los Angeles area, officials say they plan to switch to a new AI chatbot platform as early as late spring.

Search for answers

Chatbot improvements couldn’t come soon enough for students like Pablo Aguirre, a computer science major at East Los Angeles College and an information technology intern at the college’s Los Angeles district office.

Aguirre mostly avoids the chatbot itself because, he said, it can provide unreliable or outdated information. He recalled using the bot to find information about financial aid, but said he gave up after it kept asking him questions instead of giving him a straight answer.

“I just don’t find it helpful,” Aguirre said. He usually turns to Google, social media platforms like Reddit and the college website when looking for answers.

“Online, some pages are down,” Aguirre said, recalling a 404 error message on the college’s website. Even when the pages do load, he said, it can be difficult to find the right one, such as when he was trying to figure out where to sign up for Extended Opportunity Programs and Services, a state-funded program that supports disadvantaged students. “This is where I just jump on Reddit,” he said.

Aguirre’s experience is not unique. Rheanna Carlson, a commercial music major at Fresno City College and vice president of student government, said her college’s chatbot, named Sam the Ram for its mascot, repeatedly gave her vague or incorrect answers to basic questions about campus services. Her district, State Center Community College District, has a three-year, nearly $870,000 contract for Gravyty, formerly Ocelot, through June 20, 2026, according to documents of the regional council. Officials said the contract comes with other services, including tools that allow staff to participate in live chats or send text messages to students.

“I think the chatbot is outdated and can’t effectively navigate the services we provide on campus,” Carlson said. “I don’t think that’s the most helpful option when it comes to asking questions.”

Oddly enough, Carlson only got accurate information about free food availability at the Ram Pantry on his campus when he accidentally added a typo to his request. Repeated CalMatters testing confirmed the same result, although the bot sometimes lists links that include the food pantry after you click an adjacent “sources” button.

“If it wasn’t for the amazing staff on campus who constantly remind students of our services, I would be lost,” Carlson said.

Testing chatbots

When CalMatters tested community college chatbots, they generally returned quick and accurate answers to general questions, but were less consistent with more specific ones.

For example, when asked “Who is the current president of ELAC?” East Los Angeles College’s chatbot incorrectly identified Alberto Roman, who left the position last year to becomes district chancellor. In another test, when asked “What is the current schedule for the financial aid office?” bot provided incorrect times and dates.

East Los Angeles College’s chatbot claims to support several languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese. But CalMatters found discrepancies when it asked him in Spanish, “Do I need a Social Security number to enroll?” Instead of answering the question, the system directs users to visit the registrar’s office to update their social security number. When asked the same question in English, the bot turned to discussing financial aid.

Fresno City College’s chatbot, powered by the same AI vendor as East Los Angeles College’s system, Gravyty, showed similar problems when asked if a Social Security number was required for enrollment. It also often fails to direct students to the correct offices and in some cases lists incorrect locations and times.

Concerns about chatbots have surfaced elsewhere. in New York, reporting to The Markup and THE CITY found that a city-run AI chatbot was providing guidance that could lead to illegal behavior, prompting Mayor Zohran Mamdani to shut it down in February.

“Good answers with fewer mistakes”

Santa Monica College’s chatbot powered by Gecko was more successful in answering most questions. The single-college district uses a ChatGPT-integrated chatbot that scans the college website, which staff regularly updates and monitors. The district has contracted with Gecko since 2019 and renewed its annual contract for the tool late last year for $57,000, according to documents of the regional council. At first, it showed a serious problem: When asked about mental health counseling, the bot didn’t mention the Campus Wellness and Wellbeing Center. Now he does.

District officials say the chatbots’ problems stem from how the tools are configured and the information they draw from, not the technology itself.

Los Angeles County initially adopted its chatbot through Ocelot, which later merged with Gravyty. The same chatbot platform is also used on the California Student Aid Commission website.

Betsy Regalado, one of the district’s associate vice chancellors, said the current system relies on a manually maintained library of frequently asked questions that staff at each of the district’s nine colleges help maintain and review at least once or twice a year for accuracy. She added that the chatbots are primarily intended for the public, not for enrolled students, who have access to more detailed personal information through their campus portal.

“The current chatbot that we have uses a library of questions. If you don’t have that question in that library, then those poor people won’t get an answer or they won’t get an accurate answer,” Regalado said.

She said the district plans to transition all nine colleges to Gravyty’s platform in late spring at no additional cost to its existing contract, which runs through 2029. The new system will use AI to weed out colleges and outside websites to generate answers.

“We’re ready for the (chatbot) modernization and shift to generative AI. That’s the new world out there,” Regalado said.

Santa Monica College’s chatbot similarly initially relied on a manually loaded library of frequently asked questions and answers before switching to its all-AI system, according to Esau Tovar, the college’s dean of enrollment services. In an email, he said the bot was “never designed to address all aspects of the student journey,” but to answer general questions from students.

Tovar said the bot pulls answers from the college’s website, meaning accuracy depends on how current and complete that information is. As a result, the college prioritizes keeping its website up-to-date so that the bot provides “good answers with fewer errors” rather than “great answers with potentially more errors.”

Widely used, cautiously trusted

Acknowledging the limitations, community college districts justify the costs by citing heavy student use, which would cost significantly more if handled by call center staff around the clock.

Regalado said Los Angeles County College averages 5,000 to 7,000 interactions a month. Other districts reported similar monthly usage, including 5,000 interactions at State Center Community College District, which includes campuses in Fresno and nearby counties, and 4,000 calls at Santa Monica College. Regalado said as long as the chatbot remains heavily used, her district will continue to support it.

Tovar said the chatbot provides 24-hour support regardless of time zone or location, which he says is useful for international students when they are out of the country. He said answering the tens of thousands of questions that chatbots receive around the clock would cost significantly more if handled by staff.

“Every technology has a cost. We simply couldn’t help all the students if they could only reach us through traditional methods,” Tovar said.

But high usage and expanded access don’t always translate into trust, especially when students need accurate answers on sensitive topics.

Brian Hartanto, a civil engineering major at Santa Monica College from Indonesia, said the college’s newer chatbot system is more fluid and can be a useful starting point, especially for students who are more comfortable communicating in languages ​​other than English. But like international student he is worried that following inaccurate guidelines could jeopardize his visa status.

“Maintaining international student status is very, very sensitive right now,” Hartanto said. “I would still rely on human communication or email communication.”

Martin Romero is a fellow at the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters Higher Education Coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.