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Callaghan Innovation is preparing to pilot an AI conversational companion, dubbed GovGPT, to help businesses get the information they need from government websites.
The tool was announced today by minister for science technology and innovation Judith Collins at the 2024 Aotearoa AI Summit in Auckland. It was also demonstrated on the Callaghan conference stand.
“We know there’s a lot of Government support and information out there to help businesses thrive,” Collins said. “But it can be hard to find and is often located across a number of different sites.”
Collins also announced a new Callaghan-led initiative, in collaboration with NZTE and NIWA, to support Kiwi businesses boost productivity and competitiveness by deploying AI.
Sarah Sun, Callaghan Innovation head of AI and digital, said GovGPT would address barriers businesses faced in finding the government information they needed.
“Ultimately, our vision is for a simple, digital front-door where Kiwis can quickly and easily get answers to their questions about government support and services.
“Anyone should be able to access important information in a way that’s most intuitive to humans – natural conversations in their preferred language. GovGPT is a first step.”
Callaghan Innovation partnered with Whāriki Māori Business Network and an unnamed technology provider to develop the GovGPT proof of concept in less than two months by combining the existing functionality of large language models and a library of existing software modules.
GovGPT features multilingual support in many common languages, including text-based Te Reo Māori.
“It’s great to have Whāriki Māori Business Network on board to help us ensure the cultural relevance, and appropriateness of content so we can offer a comprehensive, valuable tool for all users,” Sun said.
The GovGPT pilot can support both text and speech chats and would be updated and improved over the next few months to include customisation options such as different voices, tones and speech speed.
“We are keen to ensure GovGPT meets the varying needs of the diverse business community in Aotearoa New Zealand so that finding important Government information is as easy as having a conversation with someone,” Sun said.
Callaghan Innovation is planning to make the GovGPT pilot available on its website in October.
Sun said the AI Activator was based on the highly effective model developed by Callaghan Innovation for ecosystem-wide support.
“Activators, including the HealthTech and AgriTech Activator, have been really successful in supporting the needs of early-stage and innovation-intensive companies in Aotearoa New Zealand,” she said.
The AI Activator would provide access to expertise, R&D resources, AI tools for businesses and interactive learning modules.