ConsiliumBots
Using data and technology to help people make important decisions
A non-profit using data and technology to help people make important decisions — chatbots, smart matching platforms, and personalized guidance across education, housing, and benefits. 36 tools, 6M+ people, 7 countries.
Digital guidance, built for real policy environments
I co-founded ConsiliumBots with Felipe Saint-Jean. ConsiliumBots is a non-profit that partners with governments and researchers to design, build, and evaluate digital guidance tools — chatbots, smart matching platforms, search interfaces, and personalized communication — that help people navigate high-stakes decisions in education, housing, and access to public benefits.
To date the team has shipped 36 tools reaching 6M+ people across 7 countries (Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and the United States), working directly with national ministries of education, central banks, the Inter-American Development Bank, and U.S. school districts.
What we build
- AI-powered chatbots that reduce information frictions in admissions and benefit-take-up
- Smart matching platforms for school choice and teacher assignment (CCAS)
- Personalized feedback for students and teachers based on assessment results
- Coordinated choice and assignment systems used by ministries at national scale
- Field-experiment infrastructure so every product can be evaluated rigorously
Selected programs
- Decidiendo Para un Futuro Mejor (DFM) — information interventions for college and major choice
- Smart Matching Platforms — teacher assignment optimization in Ecuador and Peru
- Subsidy Project — increasing take-up of education and family benefits
- Feedback for Teachers / Students — closing the loop between assessment and classroom practice
Current AI and platform projects
Recent work extends the same model into AI-assisted public-service tools: start with real administrative bottlenecks, build practical products with partner organizations, and keep each deployment ready for measurement.
CienPiés
A mobile-first platform for safe, supervised "walking school buses": families near one another are grouped into optimized walking routes, guardians rotate supervision, and schools can plan routes and track participation.
Visit ciempies.aiMi Abogado AI
A scoping study with Programa Mi Abogado and NAD on AI-assisted case-management tools for child-protection legal teams, designed to reduce administrative burden while augmenting professional judgment.
Visit mi-abogado.aiTiempo para Liderar con IA
A proposed field experiment testing whether training and light coaching can help school principals use AI responsibly, reduce administrative load, and recover time for instructional leadership.
Visit directores.aiCCAS Global Review
A living data platform documenting coordinated school and university assignment systems across 149 countries and 600+ cities, with evidence-based design lessons for more equitable admissions.
Visit ccas.wikiLUCI
The Latin American Urban Childcare Initiative maps childcare access across Santiago, Bogotá, and Santo Domingo, combining geospatial data, field validation, and AI-assisted verification for policy teams and families.
Read the LUCI project pageA flagship application is the Colombia higher-education guidance work: nationwide, at-scale experiments embedded in the ICFES results portal tested which information interventions actually change information-seeking behavior, and what does (and does not) transport when you scale.
The broader goal is simple: combine user-centered product design with rigorous measurement so that public information systems can both deliver better guidance and learn quickly which designs are worth scaling.
Visit ConsiliumBots ConsiliumBots on GitHub Related work: adaptive experimentation at scale ↗- Type: Non-profit organization
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Headquarters:
New York, USA
Santiago, Chile - Countries: Chile · Colombia · Ecuador · Peru · Brazil · Dominican Republic · USA
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Website:
consiliumbots.com
ConsiliumBots on GitHub -
Government partners:
Ministries of Education across Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic
ICFES Colombia
Central Bank of Colombia
Inter-American Development Bank -
Research partners:
J-PAL LAC
IPA Colombia
International Growth Centre
Agency Fund - Tech partners: OpenAI · ElevenLabs
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Donors:
Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (core support)
J-PAL - Founded: 2017
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Co-founders:
Christopher Neilson
Felipe Saint-Jean - Principal Investigators: