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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. doc_ick · · focus · HN ↗
              It isn’t nearly as easy but it’s more reliable whereas using an llm is prone to unknown hallucinations (also ignoring the obvious ethical considerations of llms).
              1. irishcoffee · · focus · HN ↗
                15 years ago I was talking to my HR rep about covering my child on healthcare. Her other parent and I were not married. “No you can’t cover her!” “Why not, I’m one of the two parents?” “Because you’re not married!” “So what?”

                Humans also make shit up all the time.

                1. astafrig · · focus · HN ↗
                  Cool, but the information on government websites generally meets a higher standard than just ‘making shit up all the time’ so it’s not really a relevant comparison.
                  1. irishcoffee · · focus · HN ↗
                    We must not live on the same planet. Most government websites are completely fucking useless here. It’s different where you’re from?
                    1. lkbm · · focus · HN ↗
                      Useless, perhaps, but generally say true things rather than false things, in my experience.
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