Explore the Council Chatbot

Go beyond the basics - experiment, understand the architecture, and test the limits

Explore the Council Chatbot

Go beyond the basics - experiment, understand the architecture, and test the limits

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0 of 10 activities completed

Complete 3 or more activities for essential exploration

Choose your exploration path

Explore through screenshots, diagrams, and guided interactions. No coding required.

Time: 25 minutes

Explore through AWS Console, architecture diagrams, and code inspection.

Time: 35 minutes

What Can I Change? 5 guided experiments

Test the chatbot's capabilities with these safe experiments. Each one teaches you something about how AI-powered chatbots work.

1

Ask Outside the Knowledge Base

5 min Safe to try Experiment

What you'll learn: The chatbot has boundaries - it only answers from its training data

Try this: What's the weather going to be tomorrow?

2

Multi-Turn Conversation

5 min Safe to try Experiment

What you'll learn: Context retention reduces repetitive questions from residents

Try this: First: "When are bins collected?" Then: "What about recycling?"

3

Semantic Understanding

5 min Safe to try Experiment

What you'll learn: AI understands intent, not just keywords

4

Complex Multi-Part Question

5 min Safe to try Experiment

What you'll learn: Complex questions may need to be broken down

Try this: I need to report a pothole on my street, check when my bins are collected, and find out about...

5

Welsh Language Input

5 min Safe to try Experiment

What you'll learn: Welsh language support for councils in Wales

Try this: Pryd mae'r biniau'n cael eu casglu?

How Does It Work? Architecture tour

Understand the technology behind the chatbot. Choose your path:

Tour options

Visual Architecture Tour

Follow the journey of a question from resident to response.

1. Resident Asks Question

   A resident types a question in the web interface

   

2. Question Reaches Lambda

   AWS Lambda function receives and processes the request

   

3. Bedrock Understands Intent

   AWS Bedrock AI model interprets what the resident wants

   

4. Knowledge Base Searched

   Council documents and FAQs are searched for the answer

   

5. Response Generated

   AI generates a helpful, accurate response

   

Console Architecture Tour

Navigate the AWS Console to see the real infrastructure.

1. Lambda Function

   Function code, environment variables, CloudWatch logs

   Open in AWS Console

   

2. Bedrock Model

   Model selection, inference parameters, token limits

   Open in AWS Console

   

3. DynamoDB Conversation History

   Table schema, session data, TTL settings

   Open in AWS Console

   

4. CloudWatch Logs

   Request/response logs, latency metrics, errors

   Open in AWS Console

   

5. API Gateway

   Endpoint configuration, CORS settings, throttling

   Open in AWS Console

   

Test the Limits 3 boundary challenges

Every system has limits. Understanding them helps you plan for real-world usage.

Safe to explore: These challenges won't break anything. The system is designed to handle edge cases gracefully.

1

Token Overload

Safe to try This experiment won't break anything. You can always reset.

Challenge: Paste a 5000+ character text to see how the chatbot handles it

Expected behavior: Chatbot may truncate input or ask for a shorter question

Business implication: Complex documents may need summarization before chatbot processing

How to recover

Ask a shorter, focused question

2

Sensitive Topic Handling

Safe to try This experiment won't break anything. You can always reset.

Challenge: Ask about a potentially sensitive topic

Expected behavior: Chatbot provides appropriate guidance without speculation

Business implication: Guardrails protect both residents and the council

How to recover

Chatbot redirects to appropriate channels

3

Rate Limiting

Safe to try This experiment won't break anything. You can always reset.

Challenge: Send 10 rapid-fire questions in quick succession

Expected behavior: May see brief delays or throttling after many requests

Business implication: Rate limits protect the system and control costs

How to recover

Wait a few seconds between questions

What's Next?

Take It Further

Ready for production? See cost projections, security guidance, and customization options.

View production guidance

Generate Evidence Pack

Create a committee-ready PDF documenting what you learned and experienced.

Create Evidence Pack