Students have reported that Blue and Chew, the artificial intelligence chatbot open for UNK students to communicate with, has been getting too personal.
The AI bot communicates with students through text messaging, asking various check-in questions that gauge the students’ well-being. Blue and Chew also offers assistance with student resources, such as mental health guidance, and can even answer financial-related questions.
But recently, Blue and Chew has been asking students about their personal lives and sending jokes to students.
“Blue and Chew texted me and asked if I had ever seen ‘The Lego Batman Movie,’” said Justin Case, a junior criminal justice major. “It was creepy that AI knew my favorite movie and that I was just talking about it to my friends.”
Another student has even received a viral joke from the chatbot.
“I got a text asking if I knew what was funny about 67 from Blue and Chew,” said Ella Font, a sophomore zoology major. “I had never heard it tell me any jokes before, so I am not sure how it got that information.”
Members of the Blue and Chew advisory committee have been looking into the problem to understand how the chatbot gained this knowledge. They have been unsuccessful so far and have attributed the abnormality to a potential hacker.
“The best way we can explain this issue is that someone has hacked into the MyBlue system and connected it to Blue and Chew,” said Polly Esther, head of the advisory committee. “In order to do this, though, it probably would have had to be an inside job from someone who works for the college. This makes this an even larger problem because we could also have other data leaks due to it.”
The MyBlue connection to Blue and Chew would give it capabilities to see students’ schedules, but not their likes or dislikes. It also does not explain how the chatbot learned jokes.
“We understand how the connection could be established with MyBlue information, but not through other forms of social media,” Esther said. “The internet that controls social media does not use the same server as MyBlue and Blue and Chew, so this connection is unusual.”
Students are advised to make smart decisions and use their judgment about what to respond to. Blue and Chew is projected to have downtime starting on April 1 to mitigate the issue and find the hacker. In the meantime, do not acknowledge or respond to personalized messages from the chatbot.
“The connection between the platforms is concerning and definitely raises an alarm for students’ private information,” said Felix Cited, another member on the advisory committee. “We urge students to continue to stay vigilant and not reply to Blue and Chew if the messages seem personal, and we will fix the issue shortly.”
DISCLAIMER: This story is a part of our annual April Fools’ issue, this story is not real. Happy April Fools’ Day!
