Caption: Dominic Smith
By Sue-Ann Wayow
MEET Anansi, not the folklore sly West African spider character, but the new national artificial intelligence assistant.
Anansi has been created to assist in making government information and services readily available to citizens across Trinidad and Tobago.
The AI tool made its grand debut at the International Waterfront Complex on Tuesday, under the theme “Transforming Government Through Technology.”
Minister of Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence Dominic Smith elaborated more about Anansi at the post-Cabinet media briefing on Thursday and also provided an update.
He said as at 4.45 pm on Thursday, there was uptime of 100 per cent, over 3,000 visits, of those visits 635 requests from citizens simply trying to find information, 79 pushes to live agents and 93 per cent satisfaction from users.
Anansi was created by the ministry in collaboration with iGovTT.
“Anansi is Trinidad’s first AI driven digital assistant,” Smith said with the main purpose to issuing information to persons instead of them having to either wait or question several places or persons to receive the information required as it relates to government services.
He admitted citizens had a level of frustration when it comes to accessing such information.
“Anansi was created essentially to service that particular pain point,” the minister said.
Smith said, “Any information that is available throughout the internet based on public information, Anansi has now accessed that information and we have now consolidated that information into one space and that solves one problem…We fed into the AI structural content, we did some technical configuration, and of course, we have been testing and refining.”
He said it was an initiative that the ministry was quite proud of given the short space of time and will be used as a cornerstone for other technological platforms.
The name Anansi known as the keeper of information or stories was given to maintain cultural significance to Trinidad and Tobago and the logo for the AI represents a spider’s web.
The final name was decided upon based on feedback and consultation.
Smith explained, “In the event that the AI cannot answer a question, you can generate a ticket, it will be pushed to a live agent, and that live agent will respond. In the event that the live agent cannot respond, those questions are then pushed to the relevant ministries and an answer will be proffered in a timely fashion.”
Time saving was one of the main attributes of the AI service.
“This is an opportunity to give you back time which can be used for other productive services,” Smith said.
With the advancement of technology, he said Trinidad and Tobago must not be left behind.
“The truth is we are far behind on legislation as it relates to technology…we are far behind on infrastructure as it relates to internet things, spectrum, fibre and all of the emerging technologies. We have to be very intentional in the way we adopt and use technology.”
When asked by AZP News about a culture shock with the move from paper and files, Smith responded, “It is a culture shock but a necessary shock. Change has to happen.”
He also said public servants were aware that they needed to be reskilled and retooled to be prepared for the world of work “or else we will all be left behind.”
“This is not about replacement. This is about continuity,” Smith said.
He also said more aspects of Anansi should be added in the coming months for example voice activated technology.
AZP News tested Anansi early Friday morning and received instant and detailed responses.
“Ask Anansi, and get quick, plain-English answers. Our assistant “spider” will never trick you – instead, it uses its web of knowledge to help you out. And because sometimes you still need a human touch, you can always ask to connect with a friendly ttconnect agent. Just Ask Anansi – the next step in building a modern, more helpful public service for Trinidad & Tobago,” the message AZP News was greeted with on the homepage.
Persons interested in finding out more can visit the website at https://www.ttconnect.gov.
