AI for GOOD: Building a Chatbot for FCSN
Non-profit organizations often lack sufficient staff to respond promptly to the large volume of user inquiries they receive every day, from event schedules and volunteer opportunities to resource guides for families. Visitors to their websites frequently find it tedious, time-consuming, and even challenging to locate the information they need across multiple pages and subpages.
Recognizing this challenge, Eric Huang, a youth volunteer at Friends of Children with Special Needs (FCSN), and Catherine Liu, who had learned chatbot development at the CP Mentorship Workshop, teamed up in September 2024 to design and build a customized AI chatbot for FCSN. Their goal was to provide immediate and reliable support to users regardless of time zones or staff availability. This marked the beginning of the Chatbot for FCSN Project.
Under the mentorship of Yi Wang and guidance from CP Mentorship’s Catherine Liu, they self-taught the chatbot development process using YouTube tutorials and the Coze platform. They collaboratively scraped data from over 400 FCSN web pages, ensuring the chatbot would have comprehensive and accurate information.
Eric, a USA Coding Olympiad Bronze Medalist, took the lead in developing the chatbot’s text and table databases, configuring its technical settings in Coze, and resolving challenges to ensure smooth operation of the chatbot. He also conducted extensive testing to guarantee the chatbot’s performance and reliability, and provided problem-solving and technical support throughout the development phase and during chatbot integration.
Catherine focused on developing the chatbot’s image database, leading testing efforts, and identifying FCSN’s needs. She designed and analyzed a survey to gather feedback from staff and families, refined data handling rules, and led bot testing. She built image databases by organizing and tagging over 300 images and photos showcasing FCSN programs and activities, and resolved retrieval accuracy issues to enhance overall performance.
Co-Develpers Eric Huang and Catherine Liu
After three months of building and testing, they presented Version 1 of the chatbot to FCSN in December 2024. Based on feedback, they refined and improved the system, delivering Version 2 three months later. By March 2025, six months after the project began, Eric and Catherine successfully completed and transitioned the fully functioning chatbot to FCSN IT Department Head Richard Lo.
To ensure long-term sustainability, Eric and Catherine created tutorial videos and presentation slides to train Richard on building and updating the chatbot. Throughout the chatbot transition and integration process, they provided regular progress updates to the FCSN team and ongoing technical support and troubleshooting to Richard.
FCSN has been testing the chatbot and plans to integrate it into its website soon. Once live, the chatbot will serve as a 24/7 virtual assistant, providing immediate, accurate responses about FCSN’s programs, services, news, etc., complete with relevant images and direct links. This will free up valuable staff and volunteer time for more personalized, high-touch support.
Chatbot for the FCSN Project represents more than a technical achievement. It embodies community engagement and real-world problem-solving. Through this experience, Eric and Catherine gained a deeper understanding of the special needs community and how technology can amplify compassion and service.
Eric and Catherine extend their sincere gratitude to:
Yi Wang, for mentorship and technical support
Catherine Liu, for guidance, and coordination with the FCSN management team
AI for Good Committee members, for assistance with chatbot testing
FCSN management team and Richard Lo, for their collaboration and trust
