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America.gov

778 points · 742 comments · plesiv

  1. maherbeg · · focus · HN ↗
    OK, there's a lot of negative comments here, but this is a great idea at a high level. It really is hard to figure out where to do a thing and it's also very easy to get phished. If they can figure out how to help people get all the services they're eligible for that'll be an amazing improvement for the people.
    1. gthrow12345 · · focus · HN ↗
      I agree in general, but how do you resolve the problem that people will take the output of the chatbot as authoritative even when it could possibly have errors or miss important nuance? People being lead astray with information from the government could lead to very serious consequences, up to and including imprisonment.

      Honest question, I had the same issue when my work wanted me to stick a chatbot in front of our HR portal and I never resolved it to my satisfaction.

      1. makeitdouble · · focus · HN ↗
        I don't know for the gov. For HR, the best approach I've seen is to have source and links extremely prominent and have the bot speak like a mascot ("bip bip boop I'm the HR bot" style)

        People don't read disclaimers nor warnings about the content, but usually won't come to the HR to complain a mascot fed them weird info they didn't bother to check.

        1. lazide · · focus · HN ↗
          The company can easily just get sued.
          1. makeitdouble · · focus · HN ↗
            You can always get sued, the outcome will be what matters.
            1. vulcan01 · · focus · HN ↗
              The cost of litigation is what matters.
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