Choosing an AI phone assistant: what to check
When a municipality chooses an AI phone assistant, check where each link in the chain runs, who can access the data, how the GDPR and the AI Act are handled and whether every resident can be helped in their own language. The Municipality of Doesburg uses Iris by OpenIris, a Dutch company, as its AI phone assistant; Iris is built for the GDPR, sovereign and independent of US big tech. You can put the questions below to any supplier.
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Where does each link in the chain run?
- On which servers, and in which country, does speech recognition run?
- Which language model writes the answers, and who hosts it?
- Where is the voice generated, and what data goes there?
- Where are transcripts, summaries and audio stored?
- Can every link also run as an open-source model on European servers?
Who can access the data?
Besides where the servers are, ask who can reach the data. A company under US law can be compelled to hand over data even when it is stored in Europe.
- Which companies process data as sub-processors, and where are they based?
- Is a large US tech company part of the chain?
- Can the organisation switch to another model without starting over?
How are the GDPR and the AI Act handled?
- Is personal data filtered out of the transcript before it is stored or sent to a language model?
- Are conversations with residents used for training?
- Is there a data processing agreement listing the sub-processors?
- How long are transcripts and audio kept, and can that be shorter?
- Does the assistant tell callers at the start that they are talking to an AI system?
Can the assistant help every resident?
- How many languages does it hold calls in, and does it detect the language itself?
- Is it available around the clock, weekends included?
- Does it work on the existing phone number, without an app or IT project?
- Does it transfer to the right department when a person is needed?
What municipalities often ask us.
What is the difference between a voicebot and an AI phone assistant?
People use the words interchangeably. By an AI phone assistant we mean one that holds a free conversation in everyday language instead of offering a menu of fixed options.
Is EU hosting enough for sovereignty?
It is a good first step. Also look at the company behind each link: a company under non-European law can be compelled to hand over data, even from a European data centre.
See Iris at work for your municipality?
E-mail us and we schedule a demo. We set Iris up on your own information; no IT project or app is needed.
E-mail info@openiris.nl