The Ministry of Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence has launched ‘Anansi’, its national artificial intelligence assistant, aimed at making government information and services readily available to citizens across Trinidad and Tobago.
The AI tool, which is designed to bridge the information gap between citizens and government, made its grand debut at the International Waterfront Complex on Tuesday, under the theme “Transforming Government Through Technology.”
According to Minister of Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence, Dominic Alexander Smith, Anansi will ensure citizens can navigate government services with ease, regardless of technological literacy, economic status, or physical ability.
“What do we envision for Trinidad and Tobago? We envision a situation and circumstance where a mother can renew her driver’s licence at her lunch break, where a small business owner can access a permit without a day off from work. I know every single person here sitting down can attest to the fact that, ‘Well, boss, I need a day off to deal with this particular issue.'”
Minister Smith fully expects Anansi to alleviate a lot of the pain citizens have faced in “accessing information that is available but not entirely consolidated.”
“We did this in collaboration with iGovTT. My understanding is that all of it, most of it was done completely in-house and that speaks to the wealth of talent and human capital that we have, and our commitment to really upskilling and re-tooling our public servants.”
Anansi is currently accessible via: https://anansi.tt
Head of ttconnect at iGovTT, Edson Eastmond, explained how the AI tool operates and makes the process of obtaining government data hassle-free for everyone.
“Anansi is the natural step in our journey. It takes the knowledge from all those individual websites, all those thousands of questions, and consolidates it into one single, intelligent, and conversational point of contact.”
Mr. Eastmond explained that while the Ministry has introduced this new AI tool, it remains committed to keeping the human touch at the core of the experience. As such, the integration of artificial and human intelligence is designed to work together as a seamless, hybrid system.
“Anansi possesses a remarkable artificial intelligence. It is built for speed, and for 24/7 availability. But our ttconnect team possesses a different type of service offering and equally vital and is a kind of intelligence. They have situational intelligence. They have emotional intelligence. They are professional problem solvers who can navigate complexity and understand the nuance of a personal situation that technology cannot do.”
According to officials, Anansi represents the next step in building a modern, more helpful public service for Trinidad and Tobago.