Role Title: Development of AI Powered Housing Support Chatbot Navigation Chatbox
Organisation: Council of the Ageing WA (COTA)
Internship Period: Winter (June - July)
Location: CityWest Lotteries House, West Perth
This internship will support COTA WA’s ongoing work on housing insecurity by leading the technical development of an AI-powered housing information and support services navigation chatbot. The chatbot will assist older women at risk of homelessness to find information and access support services more easily and with greater confidence.
Functioning as a user-friendly, first-response digital assistant, the chatbot will answer common questions, simplify the housing application process, and connect users with trusted services such as Shelter WA, Entrypoint Perth, MyHome Project, and COTA WA.
The intern will work closely with COTA WA’s Chief Policy Officer and CEO, building on recent research that highlighted how many older women experience housing insecurity due to financial hardship or changing family circumstances. Many of these women struggle to find clear, accessible information and often fall through the cracks of a complex service system.
The intern will take a technical lead in designing and deploying a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) search tool using natural language processing (NLP), AI technologies (such as GPT), and web deployment platforms like Streamlit.
This internship offers a unique opportunity to apply artificial intelligence for social good, build practical digital tools with tangible community benefit, and contribute to innovative, policy-informed service delivery for vulnerable older Australians.
Starting life in 1959 as the old people’s welfare council of Western Australia, the change to the Western Australian Council of the Ageing in 1968 also crystallised the founding principal of valuing the contribution and lived experience of older people and the advance the rights, needs and interests of older western Australians. We work towards an equitable, just and inclusive society in which older people can flourish.