The Hawaiʻi State Judiciary launched KolokoloChat on Law Day 2025. It is an AI-powered chatbot that I built with them in collaboration with UH Mānoa.

KolokoloChat answers questions about court information and legal resources around the clock, pointing people toward the forms, rules, and procedures they need in plain conversational language. It matters most for self-represented litigants, who often have to face the court system without anyone to guide them through it.

The name comes from kolokolo, a verb meaning to track, to investigate, to seek evidence, and the root of hoʻokolokolo, to hold court. Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald called the tool a significant step forward in the Judiciary’s work to use technology to improve service. For me it is a good example of what applied AI looks like when success is measured by whether a member of the public can get an answer.