Microsoft and Bris collaborate on AI bot

Together with Governo and the #vitecherupp initiative, Microsoft and Bris collaborated to develop a virtual assistant that can help relieve Bris and ensure that the children who contact Bris receive help.

The spread of the coronavirus has led to increased anxiety among many young people and children. As the Warp Institute has written about, these concerns can be related to stress from school due to distance learning, or due to a tougher home environment when parents are also at home more. In addition to abuse and mistreatment occurring in the home, anxiety can also be due to financial stress for parents who may have been laid off or lost their jobs.

Increased pressure at Bris during the pandemic

During the coronavirus pandemic, Bris has experienced increased pressure to get through to their phone and chat function, and they started thinking about how to shorten the waiting times. Together with Governo and the people behind the #vitecherupp initiative, Microsoft started working with Bris to develop a virtual assistant for their chat.

- "We have both the IT knowledge and the tools to develop this type of bot that Bris will use in its chat. It felt very fun to be involved in developing this type of digital aid so that the waiting time to get into Bris chat is shortened," says Daniel Akenine, Technology Manager for Microsoft Sweden.

AI shortens waiting times

Work on the chatbot has been ongoing since spring and a simpler version of it was launched at midsummer. Young people writing in the chat will then be able to chat with the bot to get answers to the most common questions that children have. With a later version of the bot, it is hoped that it will be able to support young people when they are in the chat queue waiting to be connected to a counselor.

- In the future, we hope to develop the bot so that it can, for example, collect information even before you arrive. If this is possible, it could make things easier for both the child and the counselor by making them both more prepared for the chat conversation. It will be very exciting to continue working with Microsoft Virtual Assistant for Bris, says Daniel Akenine.