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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. rayiner · · focus · HN ↗
        > 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

        You have to measure that problem against the status quo, which is that current government websites are very hard to understand and leave people with very little idea of what’s going on.

        1. LelouBil · · focus · HN ↗
          It can be good without resorting to an LLM.

          I France service-public.gouv.fr is amazing

          <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.service-public.gouv.fr&#x2F;particuliers&#x2F;vosdroits&#x2F;F16225" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.service-public.gouv.fr&#x2F;particuliers&#x2F;vosdroits&#x2F;F1...

          1. rayiner · · focus · HN ↗
            Giving people a big list of life events isn’t nearly as easy as allowing them to just type in what’s going on and having an LLM figure out what’s relevant to them.
            1. delis-thumbs-7e · · focus · HN ↗
              Maybe some things just are not easy. Maybe they should not be. Maybe you should be able to have basic citizenship skills to survive in a modern democ… Erm, whatever it is you guys are doing now.
              1. drstewart · · focus · HN ↗
                &gt;Maybe some things just are not easy. Maybe they should not be.

                Okay. So why should government websites like the French one be well designed? Maybe it should not be.

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