Covington’s “Clive” Alien Takes on New Role as Department of Economic Development Chatbot

Analyst’s passion for artificial intelligence.

The growing popularity of public art featuring a 30-foot fiberglass alien.

And a conference preaching the need for better software to communicate information to the masses.

The recent convergence of these three elements in Cove may sound like further evidence of Skynet’s power grab.

But they were really just the impetus for a new feature unveiled Monday on Covington’s economic development website, a helpful chatbot featuring Clive (the Alien)’s image and personality.

And – “Clive” can speak both English and Spanish.

Chatbot – available in the lower right corner economic development website – designed to quickly answer questions related to everything from how to open a business in Covington to finding available commercial real estate and encouraging you to obtain the necessary permits.

“The convenience factor is the main reason we created this. We want to be more customer service oriented,” said Susan Smith, the city’s business attraction manager. “The chatbot doesn’t replace human interaction—we’re still available by phone, email and in person—but it helps people quickly find the information and answers that are scattered throughout our comprehensive website.”

Smith said she learned at a recent International Economic Development Council conference that only about 4 percent of economic development organization websites leverage the power of chatbots. When she discussed the idea with Todd Sink, Covington’s manager of analytics and intelligence, he told her he had long been intrigued by the potential of artificial intelligence and was testing the effectiveness of a chatbot.

One thing led to another.

“I’ve always wanted to find a way or ways to use at least some form of artificial intelligence to improve the public service, and this is a tool I’ve always wanted to create,” he said. “This is a good place to start.”

Sink said he decided to use the face of “Clive” as the chatbot’s personality to evoke Economic Development’s sometimes irreverent approach and whimsical nature, embodied in the 3-D alien peeking out from the downtown parking garage as well as Fifth and Scott streets. .

He hired executive assistant Carolan Bowman to create the graphics. Then, once he had “trained” Clive – that is, given him the information to answer – he customized the software and gave it his own personality.

“Ask the chatbot Clive what his favorite movie is,” Sink said. “With everything that’s going on these days with information technology and James Cameron’s cyborg movies, his answer may or may not upset you.”

City of Covington