- The use of artificial intelligence in this tool will contribute to providing official and trustworthy answers to citizens' questions and information needs.
The Government has launched the Hispabot-Covid19 conversational assistant, which works through WhatsApp. It is an automatic consultation channel that uses artificial intelligence and natural language to respond to citizens' concerns about COVID-19 with official, accurate and updated information.
Hispabot-Covid19 is a "chatbot" service that will allow citizens to get immediate answers to the most common questions about the coronavirus 24 hours a day.
Following the order made by the Ministry of Health, this tool has been promoted by the Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence, attached to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation.
The system, tested with more than 200 questions that can be asked in 1,000 different ways, uses information from sources of the Ministry of Health and other official organizations and regarding symptoms of the disease, prevention measures, information for protection, current figures , contact phones, etc.
To use Hispabot-Covid19 through WhatsApp, simply save the number +34 600 802 802 in the phone's contacts and write the word "hello" in a message to start the conversation. The service then welcomes and informs about the topics on which you can contribute information.
Hispabot-Covid19 helps to reduce the pressure on healthcare hotlines, offering a simple information alternative available at all times.
"At times like this, it is necessary to have technological tools that offer official and trustworthy information to citizens at all times," said Carme Artigas, Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence. Hispabot-Covid19 has been created on WhatsApp Business API, using the global Vonage API communication platform and with Red.es as a point of contact.
In addition, the ONCE Foundation has collaborated, which has carried out an evaluation of the tool and has offered recommendations that have been integrated into Hispabot-Covid19 to guarantee its accessibility.
This tool for solving doubts via WhatsApp is added to Assistance COVID-19 (https://asistencia.covid19.gob.es/), the official website and app for self-diagnosis and information on the disease, which is now available in six autonomous communities.
