EXCLUSIVE: How India got world’s biggest chatbot for coronavirus

Misinformation travels faster during crisis. The same has held true in times of coronavirus. The entire world is facing a situation right now where creating panic is easier and fact-checking not. To avoid confusion and misinformation about the coronavirus outbreak, the government of India launched a new WhatsApp chatbot. This chatbot has been developed and implemented by Jio Haptik Technologies Limited. The purpose of the chatbot is to curb false information that can cause mass hysteria ad educate people about the reality of the present scenario. 

Equipped with verified data from the Ministry of Health, the chatbot is equipped to resolve FAQs pertaining to the novel coronavirus. This includes necessary precautionary measures, symptoms, correct & incorrect facts, helpline numbers, affected cases in the region, Government advisories (including travel), informational videos, etc. 

In an exclusive conversation with Zee Business, Co-founder and CEO of Haptik, Aakrit Vaish explained how the chatbot came into existence, what was the brief from the government and more. 

What is a Chatbot?

To understand how MyGov coronavirus helpdesk works, it is important to understand what a chatbot is. Aakrit explained that it is a tool on WhatsApp, mobile apps or websites wherein your questions or doubts are answered by a machine instead of a real person. 

“If you send a message saying – Hi, tell me how many coronavirus cases have emerged in India – the data would already be present in the bot and it responds accordingly. 

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How Government of India got the chatbot?

Haptik had made a chatbot for its own use on WhatsApp. This chatbot was noticed by someone in the government which later on approached the company.

“They came to use and told that this is very nice. They asked us to make one for them too. So, we started working on it.”

How to use the chatbot?

The chatbot can be accessed and used by anyone. For this, you need to send a Whatsapp message to the number +91 9013151515. The idea is to have the right information at the touch of a button while preventing the spread of this pandemic across the country by following basic hygiene practices.

“You need to save in your smartphone, just like any other number. It will appear in your WhatsApp list. You can start messaging it with ‘Hi’, ‘Hello’ etc. It will start responding to your queries,” Aakrit explained. 

The chatbot is available in two languages right now – Hindi and English. Haptik is apparently working to expand it in other languages too. 

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The moment of glory

Aakrit revealed that the company was apprehensive initially. They had concerns that the idea might not translate into something solid but it all changed when prime minister Narendra Modi tweeted about it.

“Working with the government is slightly tricky. They might get an idea and things can change overnight. When they told us, we were excited but were also looking forward to things. The excitement increased when the chatbot went live. It really hit us when PM Modi mentioned about in on his Twitter handle. He also spoke about the chatbot in one of his addresses to his constituency – Varanasi,” Aakrit said. 

He added that was the time when the team was really happy and the chatbot received massive surge in number of users. 

“That’s when we really felt that we have created something interesting. As of now, 2.1 crore users have used the chatbot. I think this is the biggest chatbot ever built anywhere in the world. No chatbot has seen so many people participate before. People are now more aware about coronavirus so questions have reduced,” he said. 

The chabot has helped the Indian government to tackle misinformation during this crucial time. 

“The brief from the government was very clear – create a helpline where people get correct answers to their queries. So, all the answers in this chatbot have been filled by the Ministry of Information. PMO and MyGov team. You will not find any wrong answers in the chatbot,” Aakrit claimed.