Pepper the Cat joins researchers — virtually — thanks to HiPerGator chatbot » Emerging Pathogens Institute

Pepper the cat has a long history with the University of Florida, serving as a helping paw to his owner, Research Professor John Lednicky, Ph.D., who is a faculty member in the College of Public Health and Health Professions and a member of the Emerging Pathogens Institute. (Image credit: Cyrus Saleem)

In mid-April, the University of Florida Emerging Pathogens Institute hosted its annual Research Day, a tradition since 2009, showcasing research on infectious diseases at home and abroad. The institute’s largest annual event features keynote speakers, a research poster session, exhibit booths, networking and other activities for infectious disease investigators. At EPI Research Day 2026, a special guest was on hand — virtually — to answer questions about research abstracts, for anyone who knew where to ask.

Split screen: inflatable black cat statue with "Pepper" badge and a man, next to a fluffy black cat resting on a bed. — John Lednicky, Ph.D. (left), stands with the 10-foot inflatable version of his house cat, Pepper (right). (Left photo courtesy of John Lednicky. Right image credit: Miriam Hill/Ysabelle Bondoc)

Pepper is the housecat of EPI member John Lednicky, Ph.D., a research professor at UF’s College of Public Health and Health Professions. The cat has already helped researchers discover two new viruses, yet Pepper has never attended a scientific conference. This year, thanks to a 10-foot inflatable likeness and a chatbot built on higher education’s first comprehensive, self-service artificial intelligence platform, every guest at EPI Research Day got to meet him anyway.

The chatbot runs on NaviGator AI, UF’s secure, self-service AI platform powered by HiPerGator, the fastest supercomputer in higher education. NaviGator AI gives students, faculty and staff private access to a range of large language models and AI tools.

Ronald Scott, the EPI Information and Technology Manager, built the chatbot after EPI’s Assistant Director of Administration, Miriam Hill, pitched the idea roughly two and a half months before the event. She had seen a similar setup at a family event in downtown Orlando, where guests could ask questions of large inflatable characters through nearby iPads. She asked whether EPI could do something similar with their internal celebrity, Pepper.

An inflatable cat named Pepper, based on a real cat, stands on a stage in a large arena with rows of empty seats. Banners for the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute are positioned to the right, displaying illustrations related to the spread of infectious diseases. A woman in a green top and black skirt stands to the left, looking towards Pepper. — In the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, Pepper stood among the crowd to answer all questions relating to EPI Research Day and EPI research. (Image credit: Brianne Lehan)

Scott said he had only used AI for basic office tasks before taking on the project. “I was an end user of AI, using it to help me write emails and work in Excel,” he said. “I had absolutely no idea how to get started.”

His first call was to Joe Gasper, a UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences colleague he had worked with for two decades, to ask about hiring him for the job. Scott said he assumed building the chatbot in two months was impossible until Gasper pointed him toward NaviGator AI’s application programming interface, or API, which allows users to send commands to and from the platform’s language models.

Scott has more than 20 years of coding experience dating back to middle and high school, but had never built a full application from front end to back end. He decided to use AI to help code an AI chatbot.

The idea crystallized after a conversation with another former co-worker who had built a chatbot trained on 700 recordings of his pastor’s sermons. Scott said this simple chat interface — a screen with sample prompts and the ability to talk back and forth — was exactly what he had in mind for Pepper.

Using NaviGator AI, Scott shared screenshots with its language models and described what he wanted the application to look like and do. The AI generated the front-end code for the website.

Two people stand beside a large inflatable black cat with a red 'Pepper' sign. Building behind them. — John and Julia Lednicky helped bring this project to life with their enthusiasm to share their science-savvy cat with the EPI community. (Image credit: Cyrus Saleem)

An issue came up in picking a voice for Pepper. Because the cat, unlike Hyatt’s pastor, had no library of recorded talks, Scott had to decide what information to feed the AI. He uploaded all 109 abstracts from the EPI’s 2026 Book of Abstracts, along with text scraped from the entire EPI website, cat facts, cat jokes and biographical details about Pepper supplied by Lednicky. This practice, called “grounding,” ensured that Pepper could answer questions only within the realm of UF EPI.

Researchers attending the event were able to ask Pepper about their abstracts, expecting a short regurgitation in return. Instead, they received a full explanation, with cat jokes woven throughout.

“It was not something I expected, but was thrilled to see,” said one attendee from the event. “It was so fun talking to Pepper about research I personally worked on.”

Reflecting on the project, Scott said the experience changed how he thinks about what AI can do.

“Had I not had NaviGator, this would have taken exponentially more time,” Scott said. “The biggest takeaway for me is how AI can unlock abilities that you had no idea were possible,” he said. “Watching the chatbot come together in real time brought me so much joy, and we can continue to build on it for whatever future projects come out way.”

You can visit Pepper the Cat-bot at pepper.epi.ufl.edu to discuss anything under the sun relating to the EPI, UF HiPerGator, EPI Research Day and more.

Written by: Sydney Burge