Dartmouth Builds Its Own AI Chatbot for Student Well-Being

"Dartmouth College is developing a new student-facing AI-powered chatbot to improve mental health and thriving on campus. A team of 130 undergraduate researchers are helping faculty develop the app, Evergreen, by examining relevant research and making the bot more conversational to student users. The goal is to leverage artificial intelligence to provide personalized interventions for students, considering their needs, habits and overall health goals, said Nicholas Jacobson, associate professor of biomedical data science and psychiatry and one of the project leaders."

"State of play: Mental health issues are one of the top reported barriers to student retention in higher education. A large share of college students report feeling depressed or anxious, according to national studies of student mental health. At the same time, many college campuses face a shortage of available counselors, and in any case, a significant number of students are unaware of or hesitant to use campus resources for mental health support."

"What makes Evergreen different from other AI-powered tools on the market is the hands-on approach of employing student developers, the amount of data students can provide to the chatbot and the Dartmouth-specific interactions students may have. How it works: Evergreen is a mobile app students can choose to download. Unlike other AI-powered large language models such as ChatGPT or Gemini, Evergreen focuses only on health topics, including exercise, diet, time management and sleep."

Dartmouth College is creating Evergreen, a student-facing mobile app chatbot focused on health and wellbeing. A team of 130 undergraduate researchers are partnering with faculty to research best practices and make the bot conversational. The system uses artificial intelligence to deliver personalized interventions tailored to students' needs, habits and overall health goals. Evergreen can ingest student-provided and linked data—such as sleep hours, step counts, geolocation and other behavioral inputs—to send targeted messages about exercise, diet, time management and sleep. The project aims to expand access to support amid counselor shortages and student reluctance to use campus resources.

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