ACCESS with AI: New tech, new steps

In today’s world it would be hard to believe that someone has not, yet, heard about, had to deal with, or even wondered about, AI.

Artificial Intelligence has an acronym we are learning is increasingly used, worldwide, in its English form – with an A and an I – even when other local languages actually have words for each. This curiosity started a discussion, but, we realised, was deviating us from the original purpose we had, in bringing AI up in the context of ACCESS.

Historical context

As many will know, ACCESS has been operating since 1986, for 37 years on the will, skills, contributions and dedication of a tremendously varied and committed team of volunteers. People, who work with us, enjoy their time with us – contribute ideas and skills, from their own professional backgrounds and experience, and ensure we remain updated and consistent in responding to the inquiries we receive – just fewer than 16,000 in 2023! Changes have always been taking place around us – but we have adapted. When we started, there was no popular internet for instance, and, since the more recent ‘covid period’, these changes have accelerated tremendously. So, what now – how does this directly affect us?

Not much has changed in what we do – providing answers to the queries people have when they move to the Netherlands, and make this their new home. All questions are treated equally, whether people have just arrived, or are facing a new situation. However, the tools we use to respond to these inquiries have of course adapted over time. We have tools and systems which keep our records current, and up to date with changes externally, as they happen, ensuring the answers we provide are relevant and, most importantly, as current as possible. More importantly though, we have the experiences of our team of volunteers – who have made the relocation journey, and add their own personal perspectives to our data.

Something new needed

While our internal tools have been manageable over the years, a realisation of late has been the tools we use to make our selves, services known to new people arriving, to internationals who may not have heard of us. Of course, a new website was step we took a few years ago, supported by an incredible social media team – but, truth is, these days, just having a website is not enough. For those not entirely familiar, there is a WHOLE SEO world out there that businesses and organisations need to keep up with, and be aware of. Ways to ensure we are seen on ‘google’.

What became clear to us was we needed to consistently update  new content on our website, to keep it active on the google maps we all know. While we have content which comes from our magazine, this is not enough – so, our communications team decided to do a little exploring – and have made a case for AI. Moving forward, we will, with the assistance of AI create content related to our areas of work for the ACCESS website. A big decision for us, but, which we are now getting a little excited about.

Wait! Important lesson ….

Well, what we have learnt in the development phase of this idea is, that while generative AI can be used to create content creatively, and effectively, it CANNOT do a few things, which we, at ACCESS do. It cannot validate all which it produces, and needs a human eye, personal experience and detailed knowledge of someone, to ensure the information provided is actually correct. Of course, some of these hiccups could be related to if you have a paid, or unpaid account, but in all the articles we have produced thus far, had it not been reviewed, and edited by a person – and especially one familiar with the content, there was a high chance that information shared would have been incorrect.

So, while we are delighted to have found a tool which can help us – in producing new content; we have also been reminded of our role, and are consistently reminded about the value of this role.

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