Big AI launch for our immigration startup
One of the bigger product/AI launches we've had made for an exciting week
Happy Wednesday folks,
Another week behind schedule with this weekly email but better late than never, right? And for another good reason.
Let’s jump in:
Story: launching a Canadian immigration AI chatbot
Behind the scenes over at Visto we’ve been working on what I think is a game-changer in our industry, namely, an immigration AI chatbot.
If you’ve used ChatGPT before then you understand the capabilities and potential for this new AI technology… and if you haven’t, then let me know when you climb out from under that rock and join us in 2024!
Anyway, ever since ChatGPT came out and I started seeing other custom chatbots, I’ve been thinking “this would be really cool for our industry!”
Now tech/AI has had a slightly less exciting time in the legal world so far. Probably because a) many lawyers are old/boring/conservative and b) there tends to be a lot at stake for these lawyers, so the tech/AI needs to be really good.
For example, did you hear about the lawyer in New York who used ChatGPT to draft a document that he submitted in court, only to find out that ChatGPT cited multiple cases that don’t even exist? News article on it here if curious and the court came down on him/his firm pretty hard (understandably).
Suffice to say, tech + legal requires some extra care.
So I thought to myself, what if we created a custom chatbot that is only trained on/can only use immigration rules, laws and regulations direct from government sources?
It was from this idea that our initial research and planning started, and while building out a custom chatbot on a lot of very specific info took us a bit longer than expected (as most new tech products do), yesterday we launched it.
We called it… drumroll please… VistoBot!
I know, I know, creative isn’t it? Trust me when I say we spent weeks trying to think of different, more creative, better names, and we simply couldn’t. Instead of delaying launch, we decided to keep it simple and get it out into the market asap.
Anyway, if you want to see it in action, check out my LinkedIn post where I provide more info on what the bot is, why it’s unique and a video of me using it here.
P.S. if you can give the post a “like”, it would really help us spread the word!
More info on how it goes and next steps in my next update.
Key takeaway: always be innovating, or don’t?
I’m not sure about this but run with me here.
There are more ways than one to succeed in business. One of them is by building new and innovative products, like VistoBot. We’ve seen tons of people build huge businesses off of technical innovations, especially in the last 10-20 years as technology has improved.
But you don’t have to.
Now more than ever I think that sticking to more “boring” businesses also present a huge opportunity. Many “boring” law firms that use Visto make a lot of money. Plumbers/technicians/trades people in Canada, especially those that run their own business, make a lot of money
So while I really enjoy building new and innovative products, and I hope VistoBot propels Visto to even more success, you don’t actually have to if you don’t want to.
In fact, if I ever move on from Visto at some point in the future (like after a sale or some other successful exit-type event), I will probably take a break from tech. Like everything, it’s got its pros and cons (might need another email to go into full detail on that).
Who knows, but until then, pick your poison and rock it. Agree?
Content for the week:
Book(s): If you read my last email you know that I was recently in Florida for a week and while away I usually revert back to my first love: reading fantasy. My wife picked up The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks because she saw it in our condo library and thought I’d like it (because it looks super nerdy on the cover and she knows I love that stuff on vacations).
It was too long for me to finish while we were away, so I’ll give it a half review: I enjoyed reading it although it seemed oddly similar to The Lord of the Rings. That’s not necessarily a bad thing (considering LOTR is the GOAT), but it got almost too familiar. Probably won’t finish it as I’m back in action and on my business book grind.
Up next: Sam Walton: Made In America. Excited to read this one, stay tuned…
Tiktok: my most viewed Tiktok vid from last week was this clip thinking about phone usage as entrepreneurs
Thanks as always for following along on my journey and have an awesome week,
- Josh Schachnow
Canadian immigration lawyer, CEO at Visto.ai
If you’re looking for more of my help, you can check out:
My immigration tech platform, Visto, that helps Canadian immigration firms prep and file applications much quicker.
Make sure you’re subscribed on Youtube where I post the weekly vlog and am also posting shorter snippets of my tips/advice as Youtube Shorts!