Introducing LSBot, an AI-Powered Assistant for Launch School Students

We’re excited to announce the limited release of LSBot — a Slack-based AI assistant for Launch School students. We’ve been working on it for a while and have been testing it in small private groups throughout this year. LSBot made its first debut during the Core Live program two months ago.

Unlike generic AI tools such as ChatGPT or Claude, LSBot is curriculum-aware and has access to Launch School course materials. This curriculum awareness allows LSBot to help Launch School students in a more nuanced and specific way over generic AI tools. For example, if someone is in course 101 and asks a question on OOP, LSBot will point out that the question will be answered in course 120 much like a human Launch School TA might.

LSBot in Core Live

During Core Live, participants had 24/7 access to LSBot and were able to interact with it through a private Slack channel, asking questions and seeking clarification on a wide range of topics related to LS coursework, programming fundamentals, and assessment preparation.

Some examples of how students utilized LSBot during Core Live include:

• Requesting explanations of key concepts covered in the 101 courses.
• Seeking feedback and critique on code snippets and explanations of code functionality.
• Generating practice problems to test their understanding and prepare for assessments.
• Requesting help in understanding specific assignments and course material.

What students had to say

Overall the student response for the LSBot was very positive during Core Live. Students found it to be a user-friendly addition to the program and appreciated its on-demand support for all kinds of programming use cases.

Here’s what students had to say about the LSBot:

“I would recommend [LSBot] to every LS student because it has so much functionality and is truly multi-purpose… I think its functions are endless, and for that reason, I think everyone would find it useful in some way.”

“LSBot was able to provide feedback on my concept explanations and provide language precision checks on my code snippets explanations. That increased my confidence in the understanding of the material.”

“It made me realize I didn’t understand things as much as Ithought.”

“Reading the various responses to others’ code as well as LSBot’s personalized responses to conceptual topics helped bolster my own understanding and confidence in the basics. It was great to see what I had learned be re-articulated and phrased in a different manner, which also gave me options in talking about the material at a higher level.”

“I see LSBot as a *very* valuable tool. This isn’t the first time I’ve used a chatbot that was trained on the course material that I was taking at the time — in the spring, I took a beginner programming course with [redacted] and they had one called [redacted]. LSBot blows the doors off [redacted], no contest.”

“I have benefited a lot from using LSbot. It’s very convenient that I can use it on the go, even when I need to do my errands, at the same time I think about the concepts or a problem that I try to solve.”

“It evaluated my understanding of a number of topics, providing corrections where needed. It definitely has made a positive impact on my confidence in my understanding of the material.”

“I really want to thank everyone who worked on LS Bot because it’s simply incredible and has helped me so much.”

Our Intention with LSBot

Our aim is to create tools for students and staff that supplement and improve the learning experience at Launch School. Many students are already using tools like ChatGPT to assist in studying, and we see a number of opportunities to enhance those tools with Launch School’s curriculum and awareness of students’ specific learning paths.

We also feel strongly that while generative AI can help make education more engaging, it should not and cannot replace human instruction. Our intention with these tools is to enhance and increase the number of staff and student interactions at Launch School, not replace them.

Where can I find LSBot?

For now, LSBot will remain a feature of Core and Prep Live Programs, as well as Smooth Start. We’ll work on releasing LSBot to more courses and students over time.

Our development team is working on a lot more exciting features for Core Curriculum students. Stay tuned!