Knowbot is a project of the Mike Hudson Foundation (MHF), a UK nonprofit that supports charities and academic institutions. MHF believes AI can help nonprofits become more effective. Knowbot provides charities with a practical AI web search tool – users can find the information they need without wading through hundereds of web pages.. MHF will offer Knowbot free of charge to many of the charities it supports.
Mike Hudson is a tech entrepreneur who previously ran Testramp, a COVID non-profit. He’s also a fellow at CSG , University of London, and St Anthony’s College, University of Oxford.
A user-friendly and informative website is crucial for any charity. Visitors need to quickly find the information they’re looking for, whether they are service users, potential donors, or simply interested in learning more. Knowbot, a project of the non-profit Mike Hudson Foundation (MHF), offers a solution to enhance website navigation and engagement through free AI-powered search.
ACEVO and Knowbot
We are very excited that ACEVO has just gone ‘live’ with Knowbot. ACEVO was part of Knowbot’s evaluation programme run by CAST. We were impressed by Knowbot and are excited to use it on our website to help our members find the information they need. We’re looking forward to seeing the results and also to following MHF’s development of other tools, including for research.
Why is on-site AI search important?
Important information can be hard to find on large websites. And in the age of ChatGPT and readily available information, visitors who can’t quickly find what they need on a website are likely to turn to external search engines or AI chatbots. This can lead to a loss of engagement and potential donors. Knowbot keeps users on the website, providing a seamless and informative experience.
What is Knowbot?
Knowbot is an AI chatbot designed specifically for nonprofit websites. It’s not just another chatbot offering pre-programmed responses. Instead, Knowbot intelligently answers user questions by directly reading and citing information from the website’s own content. This ensures accuracy and builds trust with visitors, as answers are grounded in the charity’s own voice and information.
How does knowbot work?
Implementation is straightforward. A simple “Ask Me” button is added to the website. When a visitor clicks the button, they can type in their question. Knowbot then processes the question, scans the website’s content, and provides a conversational answer, complete with links to relevant pages for further exploration.
The benefits of using Knowbot
- Fast Q&A: Provides quick, conversational answers to user inquiries, improving user engagement and reducing time spent searching through large websites.
- Smart guiding: Directs visitors to relevant pages and call-to-action sections, optimizing the user journey and promoting desired actions.
- Accurate & up-to-date: Answers are based on the website’s current content, ensuring accuracy and reflecting any recent updates. Knowbot is not limited by outdated training data.
- Easy deployment: Adding the “Ask Me” button is a quick process, and Knowbot automatically updates its knowledge base as the website content changes.
- Support & comms tool: Can be used internally by support teams to draft responses to inquiries and assist with donor communications and marketing materials.
- Sentiment analysis: Offers the ability to analyze the sentiment of user questions (anonymously) to gain insights into visitor perceptions and improve service delivery.
Several charities are already using Knowbot, including ACEVO and Reach Volunteering. To see how Knowbot works in practice, visit their websites and try the “Ask Me” feature.
MHF also provides a platform for charities to test Knowbot with their own website content. A list of participating charities is available on the Knowbot website, allowing potential users to experience firsthand how Knowbot would function on their own site. While Knowbot performs well out-of-the-box, MHF also offers optimisation for larger charities. By providing feedback from trials of the standard model, organisations can collaborate with MHF to tailor Knowbot with custom features, FAQs, and enhanced answer accuracy. The answer style can also be adjusted to suit different audiences, from children to technical experts.
If you’d like to get in touch and ask about having Knowbot on your organisation’s website, please check the website.