An Indian start-up has launched a free artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled virtual helpdesk for global company employees to counter disinformation around the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus.
Leena AI, a virtual assistant provider company headquartered in Gurgaon, said its free, open-to-all "Coronavirus Helpdesk" can be accessed across mobile or web browsers.
"We aim to make employees' lives easier at work. Amidst myths and rumours around the deadly virus, we wanted to give them an authentic source to get information about COVID-19 in simpler ways, said Adit Jain, Co-Founder & CEO of Leena AI.
Our chatbot is easy to use and supports natural language processing and even gives click-based suggestions for frequent queries," he said.
The chatbot, a software which conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods akin to humans, uses natural language processing and text analysis to understand the queries and provide the most accurate answers with citations from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF documents.
Users can type in their queries to get an answer and can also navigate the chatbot by choosing queries from a list of frequently asked questions as well as dedicated buttons.
Leena AI said that international organisations like GE Healthcare, CEAT Tyres, Piramal and L&T have already started using the bot to help their employees.
Other multinational companies such as AirAsia and OnePlus are also using Leena AI Case Management to offer more personalised query resolutions to their teams.
"Leena AI Team is quick and innovative to solve employees' queries. Their bot is simple and easy to use. Within a day of deploying the bot, we received an overwhelming response from our team," said Muhammad Khurram Zia, Head of People Operations at AirAsia.
"We have operations across continents and hence, handling queries on Covid-19 is critical to delivering our promise of employee-centricity. Leena AI's initiative made our job easier," added Roberto Vega of Swiss multinational LaFargeHolcim.
Leena AI is modelled to answer repetitive queries so that the human resource teams within companies are less burdened.
The company is an alumnus of Y Combinator, which has previously backed start-ups like Airbnb and Dropbox, and has also raised capital from angel investors such as Akhil Paul from NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul's UK-based Caparo Group and Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.
