MikeGPT: LSU Launches AI Tool Designed to Support University Community
February 10, 2025
LSU has launched MikeGPT, an artificial intelligence assistant designed to make LSU the best, most efficient, and easiest-to-navigate university possible. MikeGPT aims to improve efficiency by helping users access LSU-related information.
“MikeGPT shows that Louisianians are not just leaders in energy, agriculture, and food and culture, but leaders in advanced technology,” Haggerty said. “We have already had inquiries from other universities in other states about helping them develop a version of MikeGPT for them.”
MikeGPT has access to 35,000 up-to-date LSU documents and was initially released to LSU faculty and staff. It will be released to students later in the spring and will eventually allow faculty to build a version of MikeGPT with a folder of their files and then be able to query those files. Because of this, MikeGPT will be able to answer routine student questions about their professors’ syllabuses.
Haggerty began the MikeGPT process in 2023.
“I had the idea that a tool like ChatGPT, but specifically designed with LSU information and for LSU’s needs, might be a very useful tool,” Haggerty said.
Haggerty began building MikeGPT when he hired Computer Science Assistant Professor James Ghawaly. Ghawaly did the initial planning for MikeGPT and hired three computer science students who worked on this tool full-time during the summer of 2024.
In addition to Ghawaly and the computer science students, the MikeGPT team had assistance from several professors to develop the artwork, and ITS helped with IT and computing support matters.
The MikeGPT team faced a number of challenges during the development of their efficient AI tool.
“One of the first challenges was determining which LSU documents to use,” Haggerty said. “James and the students wrote a code to catalog LSU’s websites, and we discovered that LSU has more than 350,000 web pages. They then had to write an AI separate from MikeGPT to determine which web pages were high quality, up-to-date and most useful.”
MikeGPT in use.
When using the site, Haggerty recommends users provide specific details and instructions when asking MikeGPT for assistance. For example:
- If you are a faculty member in Math and want to know how to contact your dean, instead of asking “What is the dean’s email?” consider asking, “How do I contact the Dean of the College of Science?”
- Or if you want a list of faculty who research cybersecurity at LSU, instead of “Who is studying cybersecurity?” consider asking, “Provide me with a list of the faculty members who research cybersecurity here at LSU.”
The MikeGPT team is proud they were able to successfully create a tool that has improved the efficiency of LSU.
They hope to one day offer MikeGPT to outside users, such as prospective students and alumni, to answer any general LSU-related questions.
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