City of Markham, IBM launch COVID-19 information service
By Adnews Staff
The City of Markham, ON, in collaboration with IBM Canada, has launched an online and telephone service which uses artificial intelligence to answer questions from residents about COVID-19. According to the company, the 24-hour system is the first of its kind in Canada. The system makes use of IBM’s Watson Assistant for Citizens technology, which is aimed primarily at governments, healthcare centres and academic institutions. The website is located at <http://www.markham.ca/covid19>.
“With information changing almost hourly, it's essential that people have the right tools available to keep themselves safe and healthy,” said Frank Attaie, cloud vice-president at IBM Canada. “With years of experience using powerful technologies like AI, data analytics and cloud, our goal is to put the right knowledge at the fingertips of people to make more informed decisions as we navigate this crisis.”