As Louisiana enters hurricane season, VIA LINK has launched CARLA (Cognitive Automated Response Learning Agent), a new system to assist residents during an emergency.

During a disaster tens of thousands of people contact VIA LINK to get information about evacuation routes, food assistance and shelters. CARLA will help get information to these residents quickly. CARLA is an online chat tool that uses artificial intelligence to identify the user’s need and give them relevant information. It will be placed on our website during a disaster and will be used in addition to our texting tools and 24/7 contact center.

CARLA was developed by IBM, and launched through a partnership with United Way and the other 211 providers in Louisiana.