In late 2024 Lalitpur Metropolitan City asked us to explore how AI could reduce misinformation during health scares. The result—nicknamed AI Sherpa—became a conversational assistant that verified COVID-19 risk in minutes while connecting residents to city services. Here is how the pilot came together.
Designing with, not for, the city
We formed a co-design guild that included epidemiologists, ward representatives, hotline volunteers, and researchers from Virufy. Every week the guild ran scenario drills (“My neighbor is symptomatic”, “I traveled yesterday”) and we captured their natural language to train intents.
Instead of imposing a shiny chatbot avatar, we built AI Sherpa around the tone that frontline staff already used—empathetic, direct, and bilingual. The assistant adopted Nepali-first responses and shared context before making any recommendation.
Data safeguards from day one
Citizens trusted AI Sherpa because we treated data governance as a feature. Personally identifiable information never left Nepal; anonymized telemetry powered our dashboards; and all model decisions were auditable with a human-in-the-loop escalation path.
We also documented red/amber/green risk tiers so call center agents could override suggestions and annotate cases. This gave leadership confidence that the AI was augmenting, not replacing, human judgment.
Field pilots + rapid feedback
We launched AI Sherpa inside three wards, then expanded to airport checkpoints and hospitals. Citizens could scan a QR poster, call a hotline, or use a lightweight PWA. Analytics surfaced peak usage windows and common follow-up questions which guided our content backlog.
When users asked about supplies or vaccination slots, Sherpa seamlessly routed them to a live agent or LMC Alert. These integrations made the assistant a gateway to broader municipal services.
What’s next
AI Sherpa is evolving into a playbook for any city exploring conversational services. We are now training it on disaster readiness, waste management, and business permitting workflows. If your city wants to co-create the next chapter, reach us at info@alpastechnology.com.