Among the more than 500 sergeants who graduated this Saturday (02) from the Sergeants of Arms School, one stood out: Max, the Army’s Artificial Intelligence. The name of the virtual assistant is a tribute to Sergeant Max Wolff Filho, a hero of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force. The chatbot began its career in 2019, when it virtually joined the ranks of the Army. Since then, its functionalities have evolved.
As a recruit, Max began his public service testing phase. He went on to become a soldier and, as he became more complex, took the corporal’s course. In 2022, he entered the Sergeants of Arms School, and today he is a third sergeant, bringing new features.
This new phase for Max is full of novelties. With the graduation of sergeant, the Artificial Intelligence gains a different avatar, with the new uniform of the Ground Force. The tool can now be accessed directly from the Brazilian Army’s app, as the Head of the Army’s Artificial Intelligence Section explains: “This new version brings the great novelty for the user of interacting with Max from the Brazilian Army’s app, without the need to install other software.”
Interactions
Throughout its history, Max has recorded significant numbers. The tool reached more than one million interactions in 2022 and, as of November this year, there have already been more than 900,000, with an 85% hit rate. In the Army’s Social Communication System, Max is the biggest public relations agent. “No one in our Force has as much contact with society, answering questions, as Max,” says the Head of the Artificial Intelligence Section.
One of the aims of using AI for conversation is to meet the demand for interaction from users on social media, who need immediate responses, especially via messaging apps such as Messenger or Telegram. The Head of the Army’s Social Communication Center, Lieutenant General Alcides Valeriano de Faria, reinforces that Max is the Brazilian Army’s point of contact with society, which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, offering immediate answers to users’ questions.
Retrospective
In March 2019, Artificial Intelligence Max joined the ranks of the Brazilian Army, assisting in customer service on Messenger, run by the company Meta. In May of the same year, after 2,500 calls, it also began to provide assistance via Telegram. In August 2019, the chatbot completed the Corporal Training Course, which is characterized by a growing relationship and accurate responses.
In 2020, after updates to the structure, language and design, the chatbot is promoted to corporal. In the remodeled structure, similar contexts were merged, and its dialogue design was structured according to Army units, simplifying its management.
In 2022, Max joins the Sergeants-at-Arms School. Over the course of two years, the AI gains several improvements, such as simple, adaptive language and improved visual elements, making conversations more interactive. It is also in 2022 that Max becomes available on the main page of the Brazilian Army portal. Now, on completing his training, Sergeant Max gets a new avatar and can be accessed directly on the Brazilian Army app.
*** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI Team ***