Anne Frank House, Facebook Partner On Chat-Bot With Teenage Diarist

By Marcy Oster March 21, 2017

(JTA) — People can now “chat” with Anne Frank through a computer-generated bot.

The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and Facebook have partnered on the bot, which was released at the museum Tuesday by Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands in honor of International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Anne Frank House said in a statement.

The bot is designed to provide information on the life story of Anne Frank in the form of a personalized chat conversation. It also provides visitor information about the Anne Frank House.

“We want to share the life story of Anne Frank with as many people as possible,” Ronald Leopold, managing director of the Anne Frank Foundation, said in the statement. “People from all over the world can now receive instant answers to their questions about Anne Frank, her family, Anne’s diary, and the era they lived in. With this bot, Facebook Netherlands offers us an innovative possibility to reach a big audience, especially youngsters.”

The prince said the bot, which is powered by deep learning Artificial Intelligence, is more than a “fun gadget.”

“It is a way to reach people all over the world and inform them about Anne Frank’s life and warn them for the risks and effects of racism and discrimination,” he said. “That is ultimately what new technologies should be used for: to better our lives and conquer the challenges society faces.”

The Anne Frank House said it is one of the first museums worldwide to use this technology on the Facebook Messenger platform.

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