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A bot called Ion will help the Romanian government to take decisions acting as a megaphone at requests of citizens. Unveiled by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, Ion it is a mirror which thanks to artificial intelligence is able to interpret the opinions of the population and to report them to the governmenthelping him in the decision-making process.
“Ion will do, through artificial intelligence, what no human can do: listen to all Romanians and represent them before the government of Romania”, said Ciuca. “Hello. You gave me life. I am Ion. Now, my role is to represent you. Like a mirror,” the bot said as he introduced himself to the prime minister during a public meeting broadcast on Romanian television on Wednesday.
Ion will allow the executive to formulate policies more in touch with voters’ day-to-day concerns and one day he will even be able to propose his own original ideas.
pm @NicolaeCiuca: As of today, the Government of 🇷🇴 Romania has the first government adviser running on AI, a good example of emerging technologies in public service.
Congratulations to the 🇷🇴 researchers on this project that brings us closer to citizens! pic.twitter.com/yP5b5pOs5i— GuvernulRomâniei (@GuvernulRo) March 1, 2023
According to research minister, Sebastian Burduja, the bot uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to automatically identify the opinions of Romanians that have been shared on social media or sent to a dedicated portal (ion.gov.ro). The car synthesize their thoughts into categories, prioritize and inform the government.
“We think Ion is the world’s first AI-based government adviser,” Burduja said on Thursday. The bot, developed by his ministry, is still in the “learning phase”so the system is still in the “work in progress” stage.
In addition to the enthusiasts, fascinated by this novelty, there is no shortage of detractors. In fact, there are those who lift ethical concernsbelieving that the algorithm could be “biased” (bias) and then push for decisions tainted by preconceptions.
“Romanians should be told how this AI tool selects important posts and by what criteria,” said Kris Shrishak, a technologist at the Irish Civil Liberties Council. The fear is that the algorithm only report the concerns of the most active citizens on social mediawhich would not make it fully representative.
The Romanians, encouraged to make themselves heard, have responded to the call complaining about daily life, corruption, high inflation and the government’s pension policy. Will things improve in Romania thanks to Ion? It’s too soon to tell, but if nothing else, it’s an interesting experiment. If successful, one day, it could be replicated in other countries as well.
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