City of Ottawa to launch 311 AI chatbot powered by Microsoft's Power Virtual Agent

The City of Ottawa has announced a new plan to pilot Microsoft's Power Virtual Agent to increase the accessibility of its 311 services. Built in collaboration with Microsoft, Ottawa will begin piloting its new 311 AI chatbot in the first quarter of 2020. Users will be able to enter questions about the city's services and receive immediate answers in a conversational format. "We will progressively cover more and more topics over time," said Marc Rene de Cotret, director of service transformation for the City of Ottawa, to IT World Canada. "Eventually, I could see us migrate into more task-based things like maybe filling out an application for your permit or license."