Foreign Ministry, AI agent create single-window platform for Diaspora

…to provide Govt info, 24/7 banking services

The Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Diaspora Unit is partnering with Guyana’s first indigenous company to offer Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to create a platform that will better enable members of the Diaspora to make enquiries and conduct transactions with governmental agencies, including the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).

The announcement was made on Wednesday at the Ministry’s Ramphal House, by Head of the Diaspora Unit, Rosalinda Rasul. According to Rasul, an AI agent will be launched in approximately a week’s time, which will be able to assist members of the Diaspora, or any person, with queries about Government services.
The AI agent, which has been dubbed “Jessie”, speaks multiple languages including English and Spanish, and will be operational 24/7. It will be available on both WhatsApp and the unit’s web page. In addition to text and voice notes, a phone call interface for the AI agent is in the works. Additionally, the AI agent will even be able to help with initiating transactions.
Data pertaining to integral services such as remigration, housing, investments, documents, and the NIS will be provided to individuals on request. In addition to NIS, persons will also be able to easily access document information from the banking sector; Guyana Elections Commission (GEC); Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA); General Registrar Office (GRO); the Immigration Support Service Agency and the Passport Office.

“So, the Diaspora Unit has been looking at ways and means by which we can improve delivery of customer service to the Diaspora. I can tell you that over the years we’ve been operating this unit, we continue to receive numerous calls, emails and interactions from visitors, Guyanese and even foreigners alike, using the unit. And we do our absolute best to help them,” Rasul said.
“We thought in having the AI agent doing the work for us in terms of communication with the Diaspora, that will take a lot of work and time off of my staff, who can now focus on some of the more substantive duties and responsibilities that they have. So, what we have done is we have partnered with V-75 Inc. And you’re going to hear from Eldon Marks, the founder of V75 Inc, on the arrangement which we have with his entity to create the AI agent for the Diaspora Unit.”

Use of technology
According to Rasul, the hope is that by the Diaspora Unit making use of this technology, other Government agencies will follow suit in trying to make their service more accessible. Further, she noted that phase two of the project will be rolled out, which will add domains such as tourism and other sectors to the phase one domains.
V75 Inc founder Marks explained that the AI agent was a generative one, far beyond even the capabilities of a chat bot. He also explained that his company also expected to collaborate with other Government agencies on AI enablement.
“V75 Inc is Guyana’s first AI company… we’ve been in operation a little over five years. Primarily delivering AI-based solutions to clients abroad and we’re really happy to bring the technology home. And of late, we’ve been collaborating with IDB Lab, through our latest and greatest invention, which is an AI framework that is powered by generative AI.
“We’ve been working on this for the better part of a year. And through IDB Lab’s funding, we are able to bring the technology home, through an AI enablement programme. So the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Diaspora Unit is one of the beneficiaries of this AI enablement push, to democratise AI technology for the benefit of our country,” Marks said.
In November of last year, Marks’ company V75 was at the centre of the “AI-4D Showcase” that was held at the Guyana Marriott Hotel under the theme “Democratising AI for Development.” The event showcased homegrown AI innovations that are propelling the nation into a significant role in the global AI arena.
The exhibition kicked off with a captivating series of endogenous AI innovations, and culminated in the grand unveiling of “TrueSelph”, a globally-applicable AI product promising to redefine the AI landscape in Guyana and beyond. (G3)