COVINGTON, Ky. – Digital and physical impetuses combined to create a new feature unveiled this week on The Cov’s economic development website: A helpful chatbot featuring the image and personality of Clive (the Alien).
And … “Clive” can converse in both English and Spanish.
The chatbot – accessed in the bottom right corner of the Department of Economic Development’s website – is designed to quickly answer questions related to everything from how to open a business in Covington to finding available commercial property to incentives to required permits.
“The convenience factor is the main reason we created this. We want to be more customer-service oriented,” said Susan Smith, the city’s business attraction manager. “A chatbot doesn’t replace human interaction – we’re still available by phone and email and in person – but it helps people more quickly find information and answers that are spread throughout our comprehensive website.”
Smith said she learned at a recent International Economic Development Council conference that only about 4% of the websites of economic development organizations were taking advantage of chatbot potential. When she was discussing the idea with Todd Sink, Covington’s manager of analytics and intelligence, he told her that he had long been intrigued by the potential of artificial intelligence and had been running tests on the effectiveness of a chatbot.
One thing led to another.
An analytics guy’s fascination with artificial intelligence. The growing popularity of a Northern Kentucky public art display featuring a 30-foot fiberglass alien. And a conference preaching the need for more-advanced software to convey information to the masses.
The recent convergence of those three elements in The Cov might sound like more evidence of Skynet’s takeover.
“I’ve always wanted to find a way or ways to use at least some form of artificial intelligence to enhance public service, and this is a tool I’ve always wanted to create,” he said. “It’s a good place to start.”
Sink said he decided to use the face of “Clive” as the chatbot’s identity to evoke Economic Development’s sometimes irreverent approach and quirky character, as embodied in the 3D alien peering out of the side of the Mid-town Parking Garage and Fifth and Scott streets.
He recruited Executive Assistant Carolann Baughman to create the graphics. Then when he “trained” Clive – i.e. feeding it the information for its answers – he customized the software and gave it a personality.
“Ask Clive the chatbot what his favorite movie is,” Sink said. “Given all that’s going on with I.T. these days and James Cameron’s cyborg movies, you may or may not be unnerved by his answer.”
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