Inspired by a friend’s mental health struggles, Giga Hidjrika Aura Adkhy (23) created an innovation based on artificial intelligence (AI).
The idea emerged while he was participating in a student exchange program at the University of Liverpool in 2024, where he observed how a friend with mental health concerns could easily access psychological services at the university. On campus, psychological services were readily available via a mobile phone conversation feature.
Giga is a student in the Information Technology Program in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada (FT-UGM), who gained recognition for his innovation, “UGM-AICare (Aika).” The project earned First Place in the “Play Track” category at the prestigious international competition, the EDU Chain Hackathon 2025, with a total prize of USD 250,000 for the winners.
Compared with Indonesia, Giga explained that the number of available psychological services remains disproportionate to the number of students who need them, resulting in less intensive interaction than at the University of Liverpool. From this observation came his idea to develop Aika, an AI-based companion designed to communicate effectively so users feel as though they are chatting with a real friend.
“The motivation behind the UGM-AICare project, aside from fulfilling my graduation requirement, is to support those who need access to proper mental health care,” he told reporters on Wednesday (Mar. 4).
According to Giga, one of Aika’s key advantages is its text-based conversational service that explores and analyzes users’ psychological concerns to determine appropriate follow-up steps. If the issue is categorized as mild, Aika can provide self-help suggestions such as breathing techniques or adequate rest.
However, if professional assistance is required, Aika immediately connects the user with a psychologist. Unlike generative large language model (LLM) AI systems, which tend to be passive, Aika functions as an AI agent that can act more autonomously and serve as a bridge between users and human psychologists.
The Aika system was developed using an approach that explores problems through conversation to understand the user’s condition, just like a psychologist. From these interactions, Aika compiles summaries, preliminary assessments, potential diagnoses, and recommended assistance, which are then directly forwarded to a psychologist.
In its implementation, Aika has three primary users: students as service users, psychologists or counselors who receive reports and provide follow-up assistance, and administrators who manage the overall system.
“Aika does not replace psychologists. Instead, it serves as a bridge that connects students with counselors more quickly and in a more structured way, including direct referrals to psychologists when further assistance is needed,” he said.
In addition to assisting with the initial counseling process, Aika can monitor users’ conditions after counseling sessions via email reminders. In the future, it will be integrated with Telegram to create support groups among users.
“Using AI as the first layer of mental health services helps reduce psychological barriers such as embarrassment, fear, or hesitation to share personal concerns,” he explained.
He hopes the innovation will continue to be developed. Through Aika, user privacy is maintained while allowing individuals to express their concerns more freely. As a result, he expects more people will feel encouraged to access psychological services and receive early support.
Author: Astri Wulandari
Editor: Gusti Grehenson
Post-editor: Arya
Photo: Giga Documentation