Chatbot may help recognize harassment

An employee has an “inappropriate moment.” Maybe it was a misunderstanding, Or maybe it was worse: He or she was just subjected to harassment or discrimination. Getting the facts of what happened can be challenging.

But it’s a problem that must be addressed. That’s because workplace issues like harassment and discrimination are a hot topic for employers this year. Challenges, however, create opportunities for entrepreneurs — and a six-person start-up called Spot is rising to the occasion. The company has just launched a free application that can help employees determine if they were harassed while on the job.

Spot is a company — and it’s also a chatbot. It uses artificial intelligence to ask questions and record the answers of an employee — anonymously — and then, based on the answers, help determine if an inappropriate incident took place. The bot will also define what constitutes harassment and walks the user through the steps needed to report an incident.