NSW Ombudsman

A custom AI assistant to help navigate the complaints process

In partnership with NSW Ombudsman

Yesterday

The NSW Ombudsman serves the public by ensuring that government services and decisions are lawful, reasonable and fair.

But they faced challenges in providing clarity on their services, managing complaints efficiently, and connecting frontend forms with backend systems.

They wanted to improve the citizen experience while reducing the manual workload on their staff.

Our goal was to develop an integrated platform with an AI assistant that would set a new standard in supporting people to make sense of complex information.

Today

By framing this as an innovation project rather than just a standard website build, we created a culture of exploration where each sprint became a cycle of hypothesis and validation.

Together with the Ombudsman staff, we developed ethical frameworks regarding how we handle sensitive complaint information, which determined the appropriate AI boundaries that needed to be implemented.

Accessibility and inclusivity were in focus to ensure the assistant could serve everyone, regardless of digital literacy or ability.

Most importantly, we focused on supporting human agency—designing a system that helps users make better decisions rather than automating judgment.

This approach allowed us to develop an AI assistant that doesn't just provide information but builds context for user intent and needs through natural conversation. It’s designed to effectively break down barriers to accessing government services. By design, it’s human-first—helping people find the right information when faced with what are often stressful or confusing situations.

The magic lies in the seamless integration between content strategy, design, and AI technology. Users can have natural conversations about their needs without navigating complex menus or organisation-first structures. The system feels like talking to a knowledgeable, empathetic person who represents the Ombudsman's office—maintaining a consistent voice whether users are reading website content or conversing with the assistant. This creates an experience that's both technically sophisticated and surprisingly human.

Our design shows that conversational interfaces can adapt to unpredictable user needs in ways that static websites simply cannot, meeting users where they are rather than forcing them to learn a system's logic.

For the NSW Ombudsman, we delivered a system that:

Reduces staff time spent answering basic questions
Makes information more accessible to everyone regardless of digital literacy
Supports human agency by helping people make better decisions

For the wider world, we've created a model for how government services can use AI ethically and effectively to improve access while maintaining the human judgment that's essential to fairness.

The magic lies in the seamless integration between content strategy, design, and AI technology. Users can have natural conversations about their needs without navigating complex menus or organisation-first structures.
Jason D'Souza, Technology Director, Today