Ukraine creates AI-generated spokesperson to comment on consular matters – War in Ukraine

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced this Wednesday that a spokeswoman generated by artificial intelligence (AI) will now be responsible for commenting on consular matters, reading texts that, however, will have to be written by humans.

“For the first time in history, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs created a digital personality using artificial intelligence technologies to officially comment on consular information for the media,” the organization reported.

The avatar is called Victoria Shi, a first name that evokes her country’s “victory” in the war against the Russian invasion and a nickname that simply means “AI” in Ukrainian.

“I am a digital person. This means that the text you are listening to was not read by a real person. It was created by artificial intelligence,” said the new spokesperson, who has the features of a young mixed race woman, in her first video on Youtube.

However, the press office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the French agency AFP that the statements will be “written and verified by real people”.

“Artificial intelligence only helps us generate the visual part”, he explained.

Future statements will be published online and made available to journalists, with the Ministry of Justice stressing that the AI ​​will not replace its official spokesperson, who is real, and will only deal with consular matters.

AI is a rapidly growing technology that has become indispensable in recent years. However, its rapid development also raises ethical questions in many areas.

Journalism is no exception, with the use of content generated by AI being the subject of debate in newsrooms.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured that it had adopted measures to prevent the spread of false statements by its spokeswoman, including a QR code intended to prove the authenticity of the videos.

According to the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kouleba, the choice of a spokeswoman generated by artificial intelligence also aims to “save the ministry time and resources”: “Real diplomats will be able to be more efficient and concentrate on other tasks”, he stated.

Victoria Shi inherited her appearance from Ukrainian singer and influencer Rosalie Nombre, a former contestant on the Ukrainian edition of the reality show “The Bachelor”, who was born in Donetsk, a large city in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.