Odds on Compliance: how PlaybookAI can impact the future of gaming compliance

Following the recent launch of PlaybookAI Beta test, Odds on Compliance’s Chief Technical Officer Mark Scrivo takes a look at what artificial intelligence and natural language search really means, and how PlaybookAI can impact the future of gaming compliance work.

PlaybookAI brings AI-powered natural language search to Playbook. PlaybookAI will feature natural language processing and text classification to offer enhanced search capabilities across Playbook’s comprehensive database of all state-by-state compliance and regulatory documentation. This enables subscribers to ask a fully formed question, get an exact answer, and drill down directly into the original source evidence.  

So firstly, what is natural language search?  

Old methods of searching for answers included exact string matching or keyword search. Each of these methods required typing in a group of words and returning results. Trouble was: the artificial intelligence (AI) only looked for the exact words themselves and did not have any semantic understanding of the actual question being asked.  

With natural language search, the AI has been trained as an advanced model that understands the full question being asked, and not just returning a search based on the keywords.  

How does PlaybookAI work?  

Playbook, by Odds On Compliance, employs a cutting-edge method consisting of a retriever and a reader. For example, when you type in a search such as “what is the cost of a sports betting operator license?” Playbook first looks at all available documents and returns a shortlist of the most likely passages to be searched for an answer.

Then the reader, who is trained on our unique modelling to specifically understand the domain of regulatory compliance, searches these passages for an answer to the exact question.  

Playbook uses extractive question answering to highlight an answer within the text itself. This ensures that no miscommunication happens, and the answer is provided within the context of the original government documents.  

Can’t I just use Google, Siri, or Alexa?  

These systems are great for general knowledge. However, when it comes to a specific use case, like gaming regulations, subscribers need assurances that the answers are coming from a curated approved source. 

Our team of regulatory experts ensures that the source information from every state includes only approved regulations, statutes, formal and informal guidance, technical bulletins, and licensing forms. That way, you get the best probabilistic results of targeted AI search, coupled with the finest legal brains in the sector.  

By way of analogy, take chess. AI algorithms may wipe the board with the Grandmasters nowadays, but the best human-computer teams still consistently win against the robots. Algorithms can process a myriad of moves, but man-and-the-machine oversight still lends a competitive edge. 

How do I use PlaybookAI?  

Select a state or multiple states and ask Playbook whatever you like. Subscribers can also select vertical and category filters to further refine your search. When you receive your answer, you can click on it to see it highlighted within the document directly. Once you find the answer you are looking for, click the star icon to save it to your favourites.  

What’s next for Playbook AI?  

Document classification is coming soon. Document classification takes all the Playbook library documents and automatically identifies the section classification. This allows subscribers to select a document in the library and choose the specific category of interest, such as licensing, marketing, responsible gaming, etc., and only those sections will be highlighted throughout the document. There are also a number of advanced analytics dashboards already in the works for PlaybookAI as well, so stay tuned.