The Texas Workforce Commission worked with Accenture to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) system that could handle the uptick in claims from unemployed residents in need of benefits. The virtual assistant can understand text questions and offer a reply much like a human would. Within five days, Accenture and Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched the virtual assistant. The tool provides informational responses to the most common questions, such as “How do I file a claim for unemployment insurance?” and “What is the status of my claim or payment?”
The virtual assistant was affectionately named “Larry” after TWC’s former Executive Director Larry Temple, who passed away in 2019. Larry Temple was a public servant who, for two decades, brought wisdom, experience and compassion to those in need.