What is a Chat Bot?
A chatbot is an artificial intelligence (AI) digital assistant. The program is designed to simulate human conversation using pre-calculated responses to common customer questions.
What is AB-1?
Our chatbot is called AB-1 and can assist with common enquiries about council services. So if you’ve got a quick question, have a chat with AB-1 and see how it can help you.
How to use
AB-1 appears in the bottom right-hand corner of every web page on the website. Selecting “Click to Chat!” will open a chat dialogue box. To ask AB-1 a question, type your question into the box and then select “send”. AB-1 will respond with the most appropriate answer almost immediately. If you have further questions you can continue to chat with AB-1 within the same session.
In some cases, AB-1 will be unable to understand your question and may ask you to rephrase it. To aid AB-1’s understanding of your query please only ask one question at a time and make your question as clear as possible, removing information not relevant to the query. In other cases, AB-1 will be unable to find an answer to your query on the website and will advise of this in the response.
To protect your privacy please do not send sensitive information to AB-1 (address, telephone number, email address) . AB-1 is unable to provide information about your personal circumstances and you will need to contact us via one of our online forms or via the Customer Contact Centre if you want to discuss a specific case.
A video demonstration of the Chat Bot can be found on YouTube.
Examples
AB-1 has access to all the information published on the website so should be able to answer queries on any published information. Good examples of single questions that AB-1 will be able to answer are:
“How do I report flytipping?”
“How do I challenge a penalty charge notice?”
“What items are accepted at Tullos recycling centre?”
Limitations
At present, AB-1 does not have access to your personal details or accounts so is unable to answer questions specific to your cases with Aberdeen City Council, i.e. queries relating to your own permits, council tax, invoices, payments made etc.
While every effort is made to ensure that the information on the website is up to date and that AB-1 provides accurate responses, there will be occasions where an incorrect response is produced. Users should be aware of the Terms of Use for using AB-1.
Screen Readers
AB-1 works with all standard screen readers, including the inbuilt ReciteMe tool. Please see ReciteMe video guidance for more information on how to use this.
Feedback
We appreciate all user feedback as this helps us monitor and improve the provision of AB-1. You can provide feedback on your conversations with AB-1 within the chat window.