Taiwan rolls out AI voice assistant for weather app

Taipei, Feb. 18 (CNA) The popular Taiwan weather app "Raining Bell" has been upgraded to include an AI-powered voice assistant that allows users to ask about the weather using spoken Mandarin or Taiwanese Hokkien.

First launched in 2020 through collaboration between the National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) and the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR), the app has been downloaded more than 370,000 times.

The latest version introduces "Firefly," an AI question-and-answer function that enables hands-free, voice-based queries about the weather, upgrading from the text-only input system.

Users can now ask questions in Mandarin and Taiwanese Hokkien about the rainfall forecasts for the next three days, and receive spoken responses.

The new feature is designed to make weather information more accessible, particularly for seniors who may be unfamiliar with keyboards and touchscreens, according to NCHC Chief Technology Officer Lin Yun-te (林昀德).

The app is built on Taiwan's Trustworthy AI Dialogue Engine (TAIDE), a sovereign AI initiative launched in 2023 to develop open-source generative AI models based mainly on traditional Chinese and also incorporating other local languages, values, and cultural context.

The NCHC began implementing the TAIDE project in 2024 and has since developed the TAIWAN AI RAP platform, which integrates computing power, model training, and deployment tools.

Lin said weather services are closely tied to daily life, making them an ideal entry point for generative AI applications.

By integrating voice interaction, the app moves beyond button-based searches and allows users to directly ask questions about rainfall and disaster risks, he said.

The AI assistant's name, "Firefly," was inspired by a Taiwanese nursery rhyme that describes fireflies as lighting the way in the dark, symbolizing the app's role in guiding the public with timely information, such as whether to take an umbrella when going out, Lin said.

In addition to the new voice feature, the forecast range of the app has been extended. While it previously provided rainfall information over a period of three-and-a-half hours, it has now been expanded to three days, in cooperation with the Central Weather Administration (CWA), Lin said.

The process of integrating data from multiple agencies posed some technical challenges due to differing formats and large data volumes, according to Lin.

The NCHC helped develop backend workflows, retrieval-augmented generation systems, and AI agents, while also installing filters to block non-weather-related queries and reduce system load, he said.

Development of the AI voice assistant took about five months, Lin said, adding that the team worked under tight deadlines and managed to produce storm warning data when Typhoon Fung-wong was approaching Taiwan, even before the launch of the AI function.

The NCHC plans to expand the voice function of the upgraded app to include Indigenous languages, such as Truku and Tsou, and add features that would allow users to upload weather photos and satellite images for AI-assisted analysis, according to Lin.

The app is an experimental research product, with official forecasts remaining subject to CWA announcements, the NCHC said.