The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) has been experimenting with text and Facebook messenger chatbots to monitor food insecurity in hard-to-reach areas, turning smartphones and social media into lifelines for those in need. The WFP’s “Food Bot,” rolled out earlier this year, works on apps like Facebook Messenger to communicate with mass amounts of people about food insecurity in order to find out where food supplies are most needed. Using interactive chatbots allows the WFP to overcome language barriers as well as access unsafe areas, all while saving thousands of dollars that would usually be spent on data collection.
Interactive chatbots are helping the UN fight world hunger
More of Today's Solutions
A study of 100,000 people found we cooperate more than we think
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a standardized behavioral experiment run with more than 100,000 people across 125 countries, 69 percent of participants ...
Read MoreHistoric ILO vote gives gig workers labour rights for the first time
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM For the first time, gig workers have binding international labour protections. The International Labour Organization voted June 12 ...
Read MoreRemovable solar panels might soon be rolled out on railway tracks
Solar panels are being laid out "like carpet" across Swiss train rails as part of the country's renewable energy initiative. Swiss startup company Sun-Ways ...
Read MoreMeet Susan Murabana, the astronomer bringing the cosmos to Kenyan youth
A celestial display unfolds beneath the velvety African night sky, amidst the peace of Kenya's isolated Samburu county. It’s 1:30 AM in mid-August, and ...
Read More
