As seen in the Case Studies section, while there are many advantages to chatbots, similar to all emerging technologies chatbots are not without their drawbacks.
Some concerns include; cybersecurity, the design of AI chatbots including algorithmic bias, and ethical concerns.
Chatbots can present cybersecurity issues that school division and higher education institutions should be aware of. Aside from students possibly swearing and abusing something they know is not real, there are other issues to worry about in relation to cybersecurity. People enter everything from credit card numbers to sensitive personal information into chatbot windows and educational organizations must find a way to protect this data.
AI ethics is a system of moral principles and techniques intended to inform the development and responsible use of AI technology. The rapid development of AI over past years has spurred the development of safeguards to try to protect against the risks of AI. It's imperative that education policy makers include clear guidelines on how the technology will be deployed and continuously monitored. These policies should mandate measures that guard against unintended bias in machine-learning algorithms, continuously detect drift in data and algorithms, and track both the origin of data and the identity of those who 'train' algorithms.
What happens when you let two bots have a conversation? This video shows two chatbots doing just that. How they converse and what is talked about is both surprising and amusing.
Exercise Time 11: What challenges do you foresee in terms of teaching an AI Chatbot the concept of Ethics? Would you feel confident enough to attempt this task? Is it even possible to do so?
Costs
When it comes to implementing any new technology tool budget is always a consideration. There are different price points and different routes available:
Build a chatbot internally: Take the software development route and build a bot.
Use a chatbot framework or bot builder: Use a third-party provider to build a chatbot.
Use an AI chat service: Purchase a chatbot service, and decide which plan best fits your needs.
Once the specific type of chatbot has been decided, the costs can range anywhere from $0 to $300,000.
There are many free options available to choose from. The free tier usually has a maximum number of users, and tends to offer a clickable multiple choice selections and users receive answers based on the choice they clicked.
Next level bots typically range from $500 to $3000, with a monthly fee of $100-$2000. These bots will be slightly more sophisticated than their free counterparts, and may connect with a customer/student relations database.
Intelligent deeply integrated chatbots with many users and natural language understanding in multiple languages will run from $10000 and up for in initial set up fees and between $5000 and $15000.
Future Projections
It is apparent that chatbots are currently in a phase of increased attention and growth. AI chatbots have and will continue to make their way into classrooms and e-classrooms, with favourable reviews and preferences from students. The ubiquity of smartphones and devices aids in this integration of chatbots. The chatbot market is in the growth phase of the business cycle and students and educators should expect to see chatbot use in education gain momentum in the coming years.
Exercise Time 12: As (i) an investor (ii) vendor or (iii) school district head, would you be willing to invest in the future of Chatbots for Education? Are you confident that they will be crucial as a form of educational technology?
Students rated the chatbot with a higher level of overall satisfaction