The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has developed a new tool to help students navigate through the ‘jungle’ of information on studying abroad. Amiko is the DAAD's new chatbot that answers any questions or doubts by German-speaking students. Amiko welcomes the users of the webpage Information for Germans with the following message: “Hi! I'm Amiko, the DAAD chatbot. I try to answer all your questions and help you as much as possible. How can I help you?”.

Amiko can quickly answer routine requests and is able to efficiently map complex DAAD information. For the moment, the Amiko only replies in German. Starting from August this year, the chatbot function will also be offered to foreign students. Amiko’s name comes from Esperanto and means "friend". Amiko is much more intelligent than its predecessor, Luzie, which has processed around 38 000 requests of information a year. Marco Müller, team leader at DAAD Infocenter and part of the core team for the development of Amiko, said that the input for the creation of the new chatbot came from the “thousands of requests and frequently asked questions” that the information centre receives every month. However, he adds, it is still possible to send a direct inquiry to the Infocenter.

More information here (in German).