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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. tessierashpool · · focus · HN ↗
            reminds me of Minitel. France had online services for a lot of daily life back in 1982. Britain&#x27;s equivalents weren&#x27;t as good, but still miles ahead of America for about a decade, until the late 90s Web boom.
            1. dash2 · · focus · HN ↗
              I don&#x27;t remember Britain having any online services before the web, what are you referring to? There was Ceefax....
              1. flir · · focus · HN ↗
                I think that would be Prestel.
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