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Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

theguardian.com

31–40 of 97 posts

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#32
post #30

Can someone explain how the first chatbot was any better than an interactive form?

It's something I personally find very bizarre, but I've definitely noticed that a lot of people have a very strong mental block about doing things on a computer, or even a browser. These tasks instantly seem 10x more daunting, and people feel like they can mess it up easily. Chat interfaces that are thin wrappers over web forms don't provide any actual functional value, but on the basis of these observations I could understand them helping with people's feelings of being "overwhelmed by the system".

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#34
post #10

> The 20-year-old chose Facebook Messenger as a home for the latest incarnation of his robot lawyer because of accessibility. “It works with almost every device, making it accessible to over a billion people,” he said. That can't be the whole story... A web app could have been at least as accessible. I guess Facebook offers APIs that make developing this kind of application easier than looking for other frameworks or…

Sure, but the dev already has experience with the tech behind a chat bot, and may not have the experience needed to make a web app as easily. Think about all the "obvious" steps involved (text input, message chain display, page/server communications), the extra features FB messenger has (in-message buttons); then the issues with cleanly displaying on multiple screen sizes; and then you start getting into the fiddly b…

Doing this with (say) Twilio isn't a whole lot harder.

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#36
post #30

Can someone explain how the first chatbot was any better than an interactive form?

From a tech perspective? Likely none.

From a PR perspective, it would seem huge. I doubt he would have had a write up on the guardian or this much exposure on HN if it was a web form instead of a chat bot.

It should give us all some food for thought when we give consideration on how to market our work.

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#37

So what happens when all 10.5 million Somalians, 22.85 million Syrians, 24.41 million Yemenis, 33.42 millions Iraqis, 37.96 million Sudanese, 6.35 million Eritreans, 77.45 million Iranians, etc apply?

It was already a lottery. Not everyone will apply, but the odds of getting in will surely get worse. They were already pretty long. This American Life did a good story on this: "Ira talks to cyber cafe workers around the world about something that lots of Americans have never heard of, but that people in other countries know all about: a lottery run by the U.S. government where the prize is a visa to come to America.…

The diversity visa lottery is an amazing program that provides for around 50k immigrants a year.

The odds of winning a diversity immigration visa is based on national origin of current U.S. residents descended from such countries. Hence, for example, Asia has a small quota since countries with large populations (China, India, Pakistan) are excluded.

Note that the lottery just gives you a chance to apply for a green card. You only get that if you pass the normal stringent vetting process.

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#38
post #31

capital is also an abstract concept and doesn't commit sexual assault. the two categories have little in common and it's a bizarre comparison to draw.

You think migrants are more rape-y than capital? ;)

Edit: Are you insinuating that all migrants commit sexual assault, or maybe even that sexual assault is only perpetrated by migrants?

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#39
post #30

Can someone explain how the first chatbot was any better than an interactive form?

I'll add to what others have replied - there are literally billions of humans who have never filled out a web form, but are comfortable texting. Even tech-savvy people might even prefer doing things that way. Interface style is incredibly important from a user experience perspective and can mean the difference between people using the service and people not using it.

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#40
post #14

So what happens when all 10.5 million Somalians, 22.85 million Syrians, 24.41 million Yemenis, 33.42 millions Iraqis, 37.96 million Sudanese, 6.35 million Eritreans, 77.45 million Iranians, etc apply?

nationality is segregation

Neighborhoods are segregation. Let's all live in a big, happy neighborhood together because segregation is bad.

My point being that you cannot, by definition, eliminate segregation until everyone is made equal in all things. Attempting to do so is fundamentally evil.

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