Ukraine Has An AI-Generated Government Spokesperson

Uploaded on 2024-05-19 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Artificial Intelligence, GOVERNMENT-National, FREE TO VIEW

Ukraine has an AI-generated spokesperson called Victoria Shi who will make official statements on behalf of its foreign ministry. The ministry said that it would "for the first time in history" use a digital spokesperson to read its statements, which will still be written by humans.

Dressed in a dark suit, the spokesperson introduced herself as Victoria Shi, a "digital person," in a presentation posted on social media. Shi said her first name symbolises the country’s main goal, “the victory of Ukraine.” Her last name is an abbreviation of the words 'shtuchniy intelekt' which is Ukrainian for Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The figure gesticulates with her hands and moves her head as she speaks.The foreign ministry's press service told AFP that the statements given by Shi would not be generated by AI but "written and verified by real people... It's only the visual part that the AI helps us to generate," it said. Shi's creators are a team called The Game Changers who have also made virtual reality content related to the war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the new spokesperson was a "technological leap that no diplomatic service in the world has yet made." The main reason for creating her was "saving time and resources" for diplomats, he said.

Shi's appearance and voice are modeled on a real person names Rosalie Nombre, a singer and former contestant on a Ukrainian reality show. Nombre was born in the now Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. She has 54,000 followers on her Instagram account, which she uses to discuss stereotypes about mixed-race Ukrainians and those who grew up as Russian speakers.

The ministry said that Nombre took part free of charge, emphasisng thatt Shi and Nombre "are two different people" and that only the AI figure gives official statements. To avoid fakes, these will be accompanied by a QR code linking them to text versions on the ministry's website.

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