Betty Guest Blog, By Andrea Holovach, managing director of governance and membership, ISA
While we work every day toward the success of our programs, our teams and our organizations, collaboration really is the key…with a bit of serendipity sprinkled in. Mimo®, the large language model knowledge assistant leading major changes at the International Society of Automation (ISA), is one such example where collaboration and a little luck came together perfectly.
The Edge of the Cliff
The ISA Executive Board had begun exploring conversations about AI-powered large language models from the very early days. As a staff person at an association deeply rooted in content, AI and LLMs felt more like a threat than an opportunity. For me, it felt like we were standing on the edge of a cliff and the wrong move could mean catastrophe.
Serendipitously, I met up with a person in my trusted community who happened to have just started a company named Betty Bot LLC. Not kidding — this was not a sales call, not my project and honestly not technology that made any sense to me. But as it happened, we decided to work together as an organization with a wonderful partner to explore the possibilities. We pulled together every line of our business and talked through every concern. The team at Betty walked every step along that cliff with us, reassuring us that we were on solid ground.
ISA introduced Mimo® in the summer of 2024 simply to make ISA’s technical knowledge easier to access for automation professionals around the world. Mimo was trained in ISA content, capable of answering questions by drawing from ISA standards, technical reports, white papers, articles and presentations.
Almost two years later, Mimo is a recognizable part of ISA’s identity and a practical source of value for members, staff and the broader automation community. ISA’s early adoption of Betty Bot technology has created a new benchmark for what an association knowledge assistant can (and should) look like.
Mimo as a Character and a Brand
Creating Mimo was an organization-wide effort. I cannot stress that enough. ISA’s marketing group was an instrumental part of the team from the beginning. They not only positioned Mimo as an AI knowledge assistant, but also as an ISA mascot offering a friendly interface with ISA content. Mimo makes in-person appearances at ISA events, which have proved to be a huge crowd-pleaser with attendees. In a space that can be quite dry and technical, Mimo has become a recognizable, memorable, approachable guide to the ISA knowledge ecosystem.
Usage, Engagement and Global Reach
Right away, Mimo was a smash hit. In July 2024, the first full month of wide release, Mimo answered about 4,000 prompts. Betty Bot noted this was about eight times the prompt volume a typical association knowledge assistant might see at launch. In August and September 2024, Mimo handled around 2,000 prompts each month. More recently, Mimo has been holding steady at more than 150 conversations per day.
Mimo has answered questions in at least 11 languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Russian and Persian. After English, Spanish was the most common language used. That multilingual capability is critical for us, as it supports ISA’s international footprint among automation professionals.
Membership Experience and Personalization
We really explored how Mimo could support every function of our organization. Mimo provides different response depth based on authentication. Logged-in ISA members receive more detailed responses and have unlimited interactions. Nonmembers receive shorter responses and are limited in daily usage. This structure helps reinforce the exclusive member experience.
In fact, Mimo is even driving membership — as users discover that they can learn more if they are members, they have been signing up, paying for membership and coming right back to Mimo to resume the conversation. We didn’t anticipate this and are delighted by the outcome!
Early Adoption of Betty Bot Technology
In partnering with Betty Bot LLC to build Mimo, we were able to create a new experience in ISA that serves our community, supports our members, makes our trusted content accessible, and protects our intellectual property. The Betty Bot team continues to collaborate with ISA to deepen the tool’s knowledge, manage sources and clarify points as our needs evolve. We are proud to be early adopters of Betty Bot technology — we have helped prove the enormous potential for association knowledge assistants, and Mimo has become a case study in how to implement AI in associations the right way.
Recognition and Awards
Mimo’s impact has also been recognized externally, validating our strategy:
The Takeaways
Do not pull back from the edge of the AI cliff. Reach out. Find strategic ways to climb it. Find knowledgeable partners and work with them. Pull everyone together to find ways to create impact across the organization. Bring the “fun people” (your marketing experts) in early and let them create experiences and memorable moments. We are proud that Mimo has done so much to support ISA’s mission to make the world a better place through automation — one question at a time.