FAQ

AinoAid™ is a chatbot that can handle various tasks like answering questions, giving recommendations, offering support, and having human-like conversations with users. It's designed to understand and respond to your questions and commands in a natural and helpful way.

The creators of AinoAid™ have worked closely with domestic violence professionals and survivors to ensure it can provide the support you need.

AinoAid™ is a chatbot that uses AI (artificial intelligence), ML (machine learning), and NLP (natural language processing) technology to have human-like conversations with users.

Using AI, ML, and NLP, AinoAid™ can handle various tasks, such as answering questions, making recommendations, providing support, and having conversations. It uses NLP to understand the meaning of what you say, including the context, so that it can give you as accurate and relevant answers as possible.

We only store the anonymous conversational data, which is stored for 6-12 months. We do not store, for example, IP addresses or other personal information. Learn more from the What data is collected and why? page

With data, we can improve our services and train professionals. For this reason, we ask for permission to use anonymous conversation data.

You can use AinoAid™ anonymously because we do not need your personal data for the training. We always encourage users not to share personal information about themselves or others (e.g. names).

While AinoAid™ can provide supportive conversations and guidance, it's not designed to replace professional assistance. AinoAid™ is capable of providing insights and knowledge, but we recommend contacting professionals for more comprehensive support.

The chatbot retrieves information from the knowledge base website, and it is not able to locate your whereabouts. We do not offer GPS or any other location-tracking for safety reasons. AinoAid™ is not the shelter service provider, nor is it linked to the shelters. We do not have up-to-date information about, e.g. the availability of the nearest shelters, and we do not keep a list of shelters on the AinoAid™ website. You find shelter contacts links on the knowledge base Shelter Contacts page.

To ensure the bot provides professionally curated and reliable information, the AinoAid™ bot retrieves information only from the AinoAid™ website. For this reason, the bot is not able to direct to or offer links to websites that are not added to the AinoAid™ website.

We are working on making the AinoAid™ bot to offer links to the related AinoAid™ website page for further reading.

In the first phase, the AinoAid service has been built mainly with the needs of experiencers, perpetrators, and their loved ones in mind. We offer professionals a customized service that is built to suit their needs. If you would like to use our service as a professional, please contact: contact@encourage.fi.

The bot is in its very early stages and is constantly being improved based on the feedback we receive. The chatbot is a robot and cannot understand in the way that humans do. It is improved and trained based on the conversations humans have with it.

The AinoAid service is designed to support existing services and not to replace them. The information on the website and the chatbot provide information and guidance, but it is not all-inclusive. We will add information according to the feedback we receive.

First, they listen to you and assess the safety of your situation. They will then tell you what kind of help they can offer you and suggest how to proceed with the safety of your situation in mind. But you're still the one making the decisions, not them. You can choose how you act in your situation.

Unfortunately, there are instances where you do not receive the help you need. It's important to remember that professionals are humans and can make mistakes. Not all professionals have received adequate training to address intimate partner violence, which is often the reason for the failure to receive help.

Understandably, this can make it challenging to persistently seek help. However, knowing everyone has the right to receive assistance is crucial, so keep going. If necessary, you can contact entities that offer legal advice and who know how to advise if, in your situation, there has been a possible neglect of official duty.

There are real human beings behind AinoAid™'s development: Anna, Elli, Katja and Ulla, who are running an impact company, We Encourage. The WE team's violence professionals, Elli and Katja have supported and provided therapy services for victims of violence for many years.

AinoAid™ is co-created with survivors and professionals

AinoAid™ is created in close collaboration with violence survivors and professionals. The WE team has been working with people affected by domestic violence, investigating and researching it closely for several years to understand how AinoAid™ could help and what type of help it could provide.

AinoAid™'s development is also part of the IMPROVE EU project (Improving Access to Services for Victims of Domestic Violence by Accelerating Change in Frontline Responder Organizations), funded by the Horizon Innovation Actions Grant Agreement No. 101074010. In IMPROVE, We Encourage is responsible for work package 2. The project runs from October 2022 to September 2025.

In addition to Finnish WE, partners form Germany like the University of Münster, the German Police University (DHPol) and the Berlin association S.I.G.N.A.L. are participating. You can find all the members of the consortium here.