The White House today shared open source code for President Obama’s Facebook Messenger bot to help other governments build their own bots.
The White House says it’s sharing the code “with the hope that other governments and developers can build similar services — and foster similar connections with their citizens — with significantly less upfront investment,” according to a post published today by chief digital officer for the White House Jason Goldman.
In August, the White House launched a Facebook Messenger bot to receive messages from American citizens. The messages are read alongside letters and other communique sent to the president.
The open source Drupal module for the president’s bot is available to download on Github.
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“While Drupal may not be the platform others would immediately consider for building a bot, this new White House module will allow non-developers to create bot interactions (with customized language and workflows), and empower other governments and agencies who already use Drupal to power their digital experiences,” Goldman said on the White House website today.
The open source release of the president’s bot comes in the same week that the Clinton campaign debuted a voter registration bot and a bot that imitates Donald Trump and sends quotes of offensive things that have been said by the Republican presidential nominee.
Several bots have been made during this election and in the past to help people navigate government bureaucracy, create a more engaged citizenry, or positively impact democracy.
In the United Kingdom, the intelligent assistant Amelia helps connect local citizens find services, and in Singapore, Microsoft is working with authorities to create government bots.
