The City of Kelowna乌鸦传媒檚 newest employee has been uploaded and they乌鸦传媒檙e ready to answer frequently asked questions about the city乌鸦传媒檚 COVID-19 response.

Citybot, a chatbot program designed to simulate a human-like conversation, now resides on the homepage of the city乌鸦传媒檚 website. Launched Dec. 7, the city says the bot responded to more than 200 COVID-19-related questions. Currently, the bot has not yet been programmed to discuss non-COVID topics.

乌鸦传媒淩ight now, the Kelowna Citybot is programmed to answer questions about COVID-19 and is being monitored and trained by staff to become better over time,乌鸦传媒� said Andreas Boehm, intelligent cities manager at the City of Kelowna. 乌鸦传媒淲e wanted to start small because we are still learning, as is the chatbot. Citybot doesn乌鸦传媒檛 know it all, but it will do its best to provide good customer service anytime, day or night.乌鸦传媒�

In the future, the city plans to expand Citybot乌鸦传媒檚 abilities to include more city business and potentially integrate the bot with online city services.

乌鸦传媒淓ventually, we乌鸦传媒檇 love to see the Citybot not only provide accurate answers to users乌鸦传媒� questions but also be able to do things on their behalf, like report an issue or register for a recreation program,乌鸦传媒� said Boehm. 乌鸦传媒淏ut, if we are dreaming big, we乌鸦传媒檇 love to see Citybot become a voice-activated option with enhanced accessibility for tapping into city information and services.乌鸦传媒�

To try out the bot, visit and click on the chat icon on the bottom right side of the screen.

READ MORE: Kelowna Regional Transit to receive $7.3M in provincial, federal grant

Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com

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