Tetra Tech turns AI into small business COVID relief tool

Tetra Tech has turned its technical and engineering services prowess for defense agencies, large construction projects and environmental remediation programs toward the COVID-19 pandemic and the support of small businesses.

The company has used its artificial intelligence offerings to build a chatbot for guiding small businesses through the myriad of coronavirus relief programs created by legislation such as the CARES Act.. This includes the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loan Emergency Advance, Express Bridge Loans and SBA Debt Relief.

Users can ask questions, then the chatbot provides an answer and a link to the appropriate government website. The chatbot landing page is quick to point out that it is not affiliated with the Small Business Administration or any other government agency.

The bot is only serving up high-level answers to questions and isn’t intended to be the basis to make a decision or be the sole source of information, the company says in a disclaimer.

Tetra Tech says that the bot was trained using information from the SBA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The company said it was in part motivated because of high call volumes the SBA has been experiencing. The bot could lessen some of that burden.