St. Louis-based Mercy teamed up with Microsoft to create an generative AI-powered chatbot designed to act as a "super-smart assistant" for its employees.
The chatbot, named "Joy," is powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, according to a Feb. 22 news release from Mercy. Joy uses a language model to answer colleagues' questions about their benefits.
"The annual health insurance open enrollment period is our 'Super Bowl' in the HR profession, when we receive the most requests for help all year," Ayanna Pierce, Mercy's vice president of benefits and talent relations center, said in the release. "Our co-workers no longer need to sift through countless documents because Joy delivers answers instantly in a way that might even be more comprehensive than what a live agent would deliver."
Even when faced with complex inquiries regarding topics such as the Federal and Medical Leave Act, Joy can provide understandable responses, according to the release.