Project Alix is an AI tool that helps people like Rachel. She doesn’t consider herself a ‘computer person’ but I think many of you would recognise Rachel because she’s typical of many of the millions of vulnerable adults in the UK.
Rachel has been looking for work since last year, she’s struggling with money and feeling really isolated on the estate where she lives. Until she used Alix’s platform, she had no idea that there was free support available to her locally, that she could get help preparing a CV and getting ready for interviews or that she could access free food and cost of living resources.
People are trying to help Rachel. The founders of Alix talk to the CEOs of housing providers, local authorities and charities, and they all admit that they can’t scale their services to the demand. Not only is it hard to know where to get support if you’re Rachel, it’s also difficult for those trying to help so many Rachels. What happens? We all know that Rachel falls through the cracks.
It’s through these discussions with leaders from housing, local authorities and charities that the founders of Alix have designed a cost-effective, scalable and, to some extent, obvious way of helping Rachel and people like her, with direct help from Aster Group and Peabody Trust.
By combining AI with WhatsApp, Project Alix suddenly brings all this resource and support to her virtual doorstep. All the good work that is already being done by housing providers, local authorities and charities is now within Rachel’s grasp in a way that it wasn’t before.
If Rachel isn’t confident speaking English, no problem; Alix delivers services in her language, making use of open-source AI models. If Rachel needs to advocate for herself with bill providers, she can access bite-sized videos created by AI that help her do that and quizzes to help reinforce her learning and confidence.
Rachel’s whole experience of Project Alix isn’t scary; it feels friendly, thanks to the conversational, LLM-powered interface. It’s on WhatsApp so there’s no barrier to entry and it doesn’t stoke some people’s fear of technology.
After so many difficult years for people across society, forward-thinking organisations need to think differently about innovating around support. This inevitably means opening up scalable digital services, which maintain a user’s privacy and can fit around busy work and family schedules. Thinking innovatively about support and engagement also makes good business sense because housing providers need to protect their incomes while also providing opportunities to align more closely to regulatory guidance.
Bee Small is the CEO and co-founder of Project Alix.
