Social Bot / iDost — AI-Enabled Chatbot and Call Center System for Social Protection Services

Overview

Azerbaijan's Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population (MLSPP), through the DOST Agency (Agency for Sustainable and Operational Social Security) and the DOST Digital Innovations Center, operates an AI-enabled chatbot and call center system that provides automated citizen inquiry handling across multiple social protection service channels. The system has two main components: the 142 Call Center, which serves as a unified platform consolidating the call centers of all MLSPP subordinate bodies into a single contact number, and the Social Bot / iDost digital assistant, which provides AI-driven conversational support via the e-Social web portal and social media channels.

The 142 Call Center, operating from the premises of Baku DOST Center No. 4, has the capacity to receive up to 5,000 calls per day across the country. Over five years of operation, it has handled approximately 4.17 million citizen appeals. The center transitioned from a multichannel customer support format to an omnichannel model, integrating previously separate communication channels — telephone, social media, and web-based inquiries — into a single communication system. In the first half of 2024, the system processed 812,589 applications, with approximately 7,100 daily calls. The Social Bot component handles approximately 69.8 per cent of social media appeals automatically, with unresolved queries escalated to human operators.

On 6 January 2026, the MLSPP launched the iDost digital assistant on the e-Social portal (e-sosial.az). iDost uses natural language processing to allow citizens to access electronic services by typing natural language requests rather than navigating through the site menu. For example, citizens can type queries such as 'I want to check my pension' or 'I need to obtain an electronic certificate', and the AI assistant directs them to the appropriate service within seconds. iDost covers inquiries related to pension provision, social payments, disability services, electronic certificates, and other social welfare programmes. The assistant includes an interactive feedback mechanism allowing users to rate responses with star ratings, designed to continuously refine AI accuracy.

The DOST Digital Innovations Center, established on 17 December 2021 by decision No. 4 of the DOST Agency's Supervisory Board, serves as the unified management body for information and communication issues across the MLSPP and its subordinate bodies. It integrates data from over 80 state and private institutions and draws on 17 comprehensive social registries through a centralized electronic information system (CEIS) that automates information creation, storage, and retrieval. The center has established a dedicated Artificial Intelligence Application Division responsible for developing and deploying AI solutions including the chatbot systems. A local vendor was procured for the 'Chatbot (Social Bot) platform' through tender processes conducted in 2022-2023.

The system serves a population of approximately 10.2 million citizens. Since 2022, the DOST Digital Innovations Center has facilitated services reaching more than 9.2 million people. The center has digitised 91.5 per cent of the MLSPP's 160 services, with 56 per cent of services operating via a proactive mechanism that automatically identifies eligible citizens without requiring applications. The broader digital ecosystem executes approximately 25,000 daily assignments. In 2024 alone, over 250,889 individuals received proactive social payments, with the most commonly assigned being the lump sum birth benefit.

The chatbot and call center system handles inquiries spanning multiple social protection domains: pensions, disability benefits, rehabilitation services, employment services, labour compliance, and use of e-services. Template responses are continuously updated, and a human operator backup is maintained for queries the bot cannot address. Long-term call data accumulated since 2014 (millions of interactions) is used to refine the knowledge base. The DOST Agency's roadmap for 2025-2027 includes further integrating AI technologies into the social protection system to enhance data-driven decisions and predictive analytics for more targeted service delivery.

Classification

Programme Details

Unified multi-channel citizen inquiry and information service operated by DOST Agency covering all MLSPP social protection programmes. Handles inquiries about pensions, disability benefits, social payments, employment services, rehabilitation, labour compliance, and e-service usage. Capacity of up to 5,000 calls per day; 4.17 million appeals handled over five years of operation.

Implementation Details

Agentic AI

Risk & Oversight

Deployment & Outcomes

Sources

1. SRC-004-AZE-001 Azernews (2025) 'DOST Digital Innovation Center celebrates 3 years of driving social service transformation', azernews.az.
   https://www.azernews.az/business/235249.html
2. SRC-003-AZE-001 DOST Agency (n.d.) 'All the call centers of the MLSPP are gathered under a single platform', dost.gov.az.
   https://dost.gov.az/en/news/544
3. SRC-002-AZE-001 InterweaveGov (2025) 'An interview with Orkhan Salahov, Deputy Director of Azerbaijan's DOST Digital Innovations Centre', Substack.
   https://interweavegov.substack.com/p/an-interview-with-orkhan-salahov
4. SRC-001-AZE-001 Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population (2026) 'AI-based "iDost" Digital Assistant Launched on the e-Social Platform', sosial.gov.az, 6 January 2026.
   https://sosial.gov.az/en/media/news/ai-based-idost-digital-assistant-launched-on-the-e-social-platform-8871
5. SRC-005-AZE-001 MLSPP (n.d.) 'DOST Digital Innovation Center', sosial.gov.az.
   https://sosial.gov.az/en/ministry/dost-digital-innovation-center
6. SRC-006-AZE-001 Zero Project (n.d.) 'e-government', zeroproject.org.
   https://zeroproject.org/view/project/668f2e5b-3e7d-4819-8ac2-91ed2f9a9f1b