What about a GDE chatbot?
Call for help to build a tool to easily access to GDE program information
Quite often, the rest of the team and I reply to common questions from GDEs like, “I moved to another country, what should I do?”, or “I want to apply for another category, what are the prerequisites to apply?”, or “What are the expectations for reporting my activities?”, etc.
All the necessary info is present in a few program documents, but understandably, people don’t always remember to check them first – because, as we all know, reading docs 🤮!
So, here's an idea I've been brewing for a while: Why not create a GDE chatbot? It could initially help with accessing program-specific information and could be extended with additional features in the future.
Ideally, the initial core features should be:
Document-Based Knowledge: The chatbot needs to understand and answer questions based specifically on a defined set of documents (like the GDE Welcome Guide, GDE Application Criteria, Travel Policy, etc.). Users should be able to ask questions in natural language and get answers pulled directly from the source material.
Location-Aware Contact Routing: Provide designated regional point(s) of contact based on the GDE's specified country.
Controlled Access: This chatbot won't be for everyone. Access must be restricted to GDEs and Googlers only, identifiable by their email address (using Advocu for GDEs and the @google.com domain for Googlers).
A Fun Name: No successful product is complete without a fun and compelling name! Proposals can be sourced from the community, and we can decide based on a vote.
Additional Ideas Welcome: Please share your thoughts and any additional features you’d like to see in the comments. My only request is to avoid overcomplicating the initial design.
Are you intrigued by this idea? I’m confident that all GDEs have the skills to build something like this. With a few of you collaborating on a team project, it should be a no-brain and exciting challenge to tackle.
Who's up for it?
I think that Google NotebookLM can be used for this type of interaction. It supports adding content from Google Drive already and can answer questions based on that content. It can also be shared with other people.
I would love to collaborate on this project. I'm a GDE too.