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In a world where the digital and social divide remains a reality for many rural areas, Ville à Joie acts to democratize access to services and fight against non-use in small villages. Too often, rural populations are deprived of the aid and benefits to which they are entitled, due to a lack of information or support.

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A double culture, between local tradition and digital efficiency

Each year, the social and solidarity economy company Ville à Joie organizes nearly 300 itinerant festivals in villages with less than 1,000 inhabitants. These events, which combine a casual atmosphere and public services, aim to recreate social ties by offering concrete solutions to residents: health prevention, assistance with administrative procedures, assistance with thermal renovation, assistance in the use of computers and smartphones...

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To bring these events to life, Ville à Joie takes advantage of digital technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

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Personalized communication thanks to ChatGPT

Marius Drigny, the founder of the company, relies in particular on generative AI to strengthen proximity with rural actors.‍

AI for an effective communication

Ville à Joie first uses generative AI to write clear and precise emails for mayors. ChatGPT consolidates all the essential information in a personalized email: date of the event, services offered, program and catering arrangements. Mayors then receive a structured summary that is easy to share. This approach not only saves Ville à Joie time, but it also improves communication with elected officials. Better informed, they can more easily promote the event to their inhabitants. The result: more visibility and more people on D-Day.

AI to create unique flyers

The company also uses AI to generate a flyer that is unique to each event, which really resembles the village, showing the location, schedule, and planned activities. This choice frees up a significant amount of time for the small team at Ville à Joie, which manages several hundred events per year. *

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*Example of a flyer for the town of Veix*

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AI, an innovative tool to facilitate access to rights

Ville à Joie does not end there. Faced with fragmented social services, the company developed an application centralizing around twenty essential services (e.g. France Services, primary health insurance funds). Designed for agents receiving the public, this solution was configured on the Airtable collaborative platform. Ville à Joie has also set up an AI assistant, directly integrated into the application, which uses generative artificial intelligence to help agents in their interactions with residents.

Concretely, an agent can summarize a request in a chatbot, which analyzes the situation and proposes the appropriate solutions in a few seconds. For example, the agent writes the following request in the chatbot: “I want to renovate my old house, it's a thermal strainer.” The AI analyzes the request, identifies the appropriate service and guides the volunteers by requesting the additional information necessary to directly establish a file with the competent body. This system significantly reduces referral times and errors, while making it easier for agents to work and improving the experience of beneficiaries.

Ville à Joie therefore makes AI a relevant tool to recreate links and strengthen accessibility in the face of the lack of interaction and the remoteness of public services in rural areas. Thus, AI plays a key role in combating the non-use of rights.

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And tomorrow?

Ville à Joie remains lucid in the face of the current limits of its uses of AI and is looking for new funding to meet two major challenges:

Growth and scalability: if their solution currently works for 20 social services, extending to a wider number of services will probably require the development of a tailor-made model, such as a customized GPT, in order to avoid errors and ensure optimal efficiency.

Technical robustness: the current integration with Airtable, although functional, is reaching its limits. To avoid relying on tinkered systems, Ville à Joie wants to migrate to more robust tools in the long term, capable of supporting their large-scale operations.

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Ville à Joie is a simple and effective model for using AI to increase its impact by optimizing their operations. Do not hesitate to contact them if you like the project as well as to follow the program's news IA for Good to discover the next cases of AI use in the service of the general interest!

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