Innovator Q&A: Kriti Sharma, founder of rAInbow
Can an AI chatbot provide a safe place for domestic abuse victims?
Since its launch in November 2018, 300,000 conversations have been started on rAInbow, an artificial intelligence companion designed to help domestic abuse victims.
rAInbow is a smart companion for domestic abuse victims, people in difficult or abusive, controlling situations and unhealthy relationships. The chatbot uses artificial intelligence and storytelling (platform provides the users with personalised, immersive stories of characters who may have had similar experiences) to help victims of domestic violence find support through prevention, intervention and access to resources. The platform is hoping to provide South African domestic abuse victims with a safe space to speak out about their situations.
rAInbow was built by a UK based company AI for Good which uses next-generation technologies to make the world a “better, fairer world”. The Sage Foundation is the founding partner.
Founder of AI for Good and rAInbow, Kriti Sharma answers some questions about the chatbot.
Q. Tell us about the roots of rAInbow?
Domestic abuse violence is a prevalent issue in South Africa and we met with the Soul City Institute about finding solutions in disruptive tech to help victims. The Soul City Institute held focus groups and did a case study and spoke to about 100 people about the domestic abuse issue. During the research, Soul City interviewed victims of domestic violence to better understand how they seek help. After that we started developing rAInbow. The Soul City Institute helped us design the solution and gave their expertise on gender-based violence.
There is a lot of stigma and shame associated with domestic abuse in South Africa and so a platform like this helps tackle such problems faced by the victims. There is a bit of a cultural victim blaming. rAInbow is a system that works at the pace of the victims. We have found that the people open up a lot more because they are talking to a machine.
Q. How does rAInbow work?
Currently rAInbow works if you have connectivity, it could be on a computer, or phone. You don’t have to download a new app it lives on other apps that already exist, if you have Facebook you can add rAInbow as a friend and chat with it.
It can be accessed 24/7 via Facebook Messenger, and provides a safe space for domestic violence victims to access information about their rights, support options, and where they can find help — in friendly, simple language.
Q. What does it do?
Immerse in Stories: rAInbow shares personalised and immersive stories to help those going through the isolating experience of abuse.
Understand Signs: rAInbow helps identify signs of abuse in relationships. From the more obvious ones like sexual and physical signs to others like control, threat, digital and emotional abuse.
Access Resources: rAInbow signposts users to the resources for services that can provide further help.
We realised that we can use artificial intelligence to be available all the time and offer personalised communications to the victims of alcohol violence, sexual violence, digital abuse that are tailored to your experience. Its a 1 to 1 conversation and it’s designed for you rather than everyone getting the same concept.
Q. Is there any downside to the Chatbot?
At the moment the only downside would be that users need to have connectivity to use it. It is designed to reach people who already have access to the internet.
Q. What is the real world impact or difference is rAInbow making?
Since its launch, rAInbow has already been used over 300,000 times providing personalised support and to raise awareness of gender-based violence. This large scale data is helping provide deeper insights to help data-driven policy making. As a solution designed to help users, rAInbow makes getting information on domestic violence as easy as texting a friend. We are proud to have rAInbow as a winner of the UNESCO Netexplo Digital Innovation of the Year, which will inspire organisations globally to build scalable and innovative solutions to social challenges.
Q. What is the end goal for rAInbow?
We want to raise awareness on the issue of domestic violence and give people a place where they can have open conversations about how they are feeling, where to seek help, and we want to be able to give this information to everyone in all stages or even if they are just seeking help for someone else.
We also want to establish and showcase that some of this new technology like AI can be applied to solving the most difficult social challenges, it’s not just technology you can use to make people click on more ads or get them more addicted to their screens but you can also use it to solve or help solve issues such as domestic violence.
Q. What is the coolest thing about rAInbow?
It is very proud of being a machine and it doesn’t pretend to be human and it can have an empathetic conversation. It’s designed to be ethical and safe, and care about people and these are the values we have taught the AI.
Q. How did you deal with users’ privacy for such a sensitive topic?
We designed rAInbow with privacy in mind from the beginning and ensured a strong ethical framework is followed. rAInbow makes it clear to the users that they are talking to a machine and not a human- which helps provide transparency.
Q. How do you see new tech influencing the way domestic abuse victims communicate or deal with domestic abuse in SA?
Technology, when designed carefully with the end users in mind, can be an enabler to raising awareness, getting help, taking action and connecting with the right resources. Technology tools can play a key role in providing more proactive support. These tools are now accessible and available to frontline organisations to scale their impact.
Anything else our readers should know?
rAInbow is also currently looking for more funding, partnership, collaborations and/or anyone else who wants to get involved with the work we do. We would like to continue the development of rAInbow so if other foundations are interested they can get in touch with us via our website.
To use rAInbow, search for ‘Hi rAInbow’ in the Facebook Messenger app, or you can visit their website. www.hirainbow.org
