The ChatGPT explosion has put artificial intelligence in the spotlight. While big tech tries to capitalize on it by exploiting the chatbot’s capabilities, others have taken a different path. Such is the case of Romaniawhose government announced the first AI-powered virtual assistant.
In a meeting with members of his cabinet, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca introduced Ion, an AI that will help the government listen to the population. In the words of Ciuca, Ion will act as an honorary adviser and will review messages from social networks in order to inform the government in real time about the problems, needs and proposals of the users.
Ion was developed by a volunteer team made up of engineers, academics and AI experts from Romania. During his presentation, the AI-powered advisor was introduced as a mirror to which the Prime Minister could ask questions in real time. Nicu Sebe, coordinator of the research group said that the physical representation of Ion is nothing more than a metaphor that artificial intelligence represents one and all Romanians.
According to the local newspaper Digi24, Ion uses an extensive language model (LLM) like ChatGPT. Unlike the OpenAI chatbot, the Romanian virtual advisor does not communicate with users at this time. Sebastian Burduja, Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization, stated that the project is planned in stages and currently its artificial intelligence is in the learning phase.
Romanian AI captures and broadcasts complaints and requests made on Twitter
According to Burduja, the Ion project can capture the opinion, requests or complaints of users in three ways. The first is by analyzing social networks as Twitterwhere the interested they must tag the account @noisuntemION. The second option is through the ion.gov.ro website; there Romanians can fill out a form for the AI to analyze and transmit the information to the government. Finally, there are plans to put a robot in schools or subway stations to interact with it personally.
It is an example of the use of emerging technologies in the public service. [..] As it currently stands, the “Ion” project has an enormous capacity to learn and the more it is used, the more it accumulates and its function is that as knowledge accumulates, one can be more connected and much closer to people.
The official noted that Ion’s AI “hears” the voice of Romanians and can synthesize the information. The messages are analyzed to later generate a report. Although there are no specific details about its operation, Burduja assured that the model can extract keywords or identify requests that were entered multiple times.
Dan Carbunaru, government spokesman, mentioned that the Ion website is already active and many accesses were recorded during its first hours. The project will be owned by the Ministry of Research and Digitization and it was confirmed that no public money has been invested in its development. The implementation of the AI has been thanks to the voluntary work of all those involved.
Although Ion is taking his first steps, the Prime Minister bets with everything to integrate it into his government strategy. “I am convinced that the use of AI should not be an option, but an obligation to make better informed decisions,” he said.