Harahan's Newly Implemented AI Chatbot
- Website Manager
- Sep 5
- 2 min read
There has been a new addition to the front page of our website, and we believe it's a step in the right direction to answering many of the questions being asked by our residents daily. Although it can easily be overlooked, the functionality of the newly implemented AI Chatbot shouldn't be undervalued.
Located at the bottom right corner of our website's homepage is the newly implemented AI Chatbot, which can be activated with a simple left-click or tap.
Once activated, you'll be met with a pop-up message asking what the Chatbot can do to help you. The AI has been trained on our municipal codes and information pulled from our website, so it can be very helpful to residents hoping to find answers without having to reach out to city hall directly. We've begun to test the AI Chatbot at city hall to see the capabilities, and we've found potential for increasing our website's functionality.
A few questions were asked to test the AI's capabilities. We tried to ask the Chatbot questions based on regularly received phone calls at city hall. Some examples include:
"Do I need a permit for (insert job type)?"
"How do I get an occupational license?"
"How do I make a complaint to code enforcement?"
"My streetlight is burnt out, who should I call?"
"I have tree debris that needs to be picked up"
We found the most valuable feature of this AI Chatbot to be the follow-up messaging, personalized to the user, ensuring the best information is given to suit your needs. After the AI Chatbot's first answer is provided, the user will often have the opportunity to provide detailed information regarding their question, allowing for more specialized assistance. Follow-up information could include address, building plan specifics, or more general information allowing the Chatbot the best opportunity to answer any and all of your questions.
With the use of this new AI implementation, we hope to provide Harahan citizens with a valuable tool to assist in aiding confusion and answering questions. Not only will this AI Chatbot help the community, we at City Hall stand to benefit with the potential of reducing time spent on routine matters that can potentially be resolved with the new Chatbot. We hope to continuously improve our website and provide the community with the resources needed to help with any problem that needs resolving. We at Harahan City Hall are excited for community members take this next step with us and use the AI Chatbot's functionality to see how technological innovation can improve our lives.
Disclaimer: This AI Chatbot provides answers based on the data it was trained with, as well as the information provided by the user. Although the Chatbot has proven to be very helpful and accurate through our testing, mistakes can be made by the program.
