CivTech

In 2022-23 the Scottish AI Alliance sponsored a CivTech challenge to help us make better use of AI technology to provide more inclusive access to public services, with an initial focus on disabled people.

Following an extensive selection and development process a provider was selected. The successful company, Insights Driven, began development of Connecting You Now (CYN), a multi-lingual product which allows users to interact with online services, ask questions and complete online tasks with the aid of an artificial intelligence assistant named Heather. The AI assistant has a focus on a high standard of accessibility providing speech-to-text functionality and working to get users to the information they need more quickly. Heather is more advanced than a standard chatbot tool as it learns from customer questions and makes smart suggestions of how to best resolve problems.

As part of the on-going development of CYN, a case study phase in a live public environment was carried out by ALISS (A Local Information System for Scotland). Valuable feedback was gained during this phase and is currently being considered in advance of further development of the product.