Romanian PM introduces AI robot as "first honorary government adviser"

Romania's Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca publicly introduced at a government meeting on March 1 the first honorary government adviser running on AI, the robot ION, whose task will be to collect the citizens' opinions and wishes and relay them over to the members of the government.

"We'll start the government meeting with a surprise. Today is March 1, the first calendar day of spring, it's Martisor Day. I wish all the ladies and girls a beautiful spring. Also, today we have a surprise that doesn't belong to the government but comes from a team of Romanians who had a praiseworthy initiative. The government of Romania thus marks a (...) national and international first, because this is the first government adviser to run on artificial intelligence. (...) His name is ION, which is the mirror-image transposition of the pronoun NOI (WE, in Romanian - ed. note)," Ciuca said, according to Agerpres.

He mentioned that ION will serve as an honorary adviser to the prime minister, noting that through this project the government will be able to better help the Romanian citizens whose proposals, problems and wishes will reach the government in real-time.

Ciuca explained that the initiative belongs 100 per cent to a group of Romanian researchers and professors.

"Let me tell them that they are the best Romanian researchers and professors in the field, who were only driven by the desire to give Romanians a voice through this project. The project ION represents a system that uses artificial intelligence to quickly and automatically capture the views and opinions of the Romanians, and their grievances, using information available in the public space. (...) For me, and I am convinced that for you too, this approach is a reason for joy because it is an initiative of top specialist researchers and professors, of companies in the field. (...) It's a 100 per cent Romanian project," the prime minister said.

According to Ciuca, ION has a huge learning capacity and the more it is used, the more knowledge it accumulates is better connected and closer to people.

The prime minister also had a brief interaction with ION, engaging in a short demonstrative dialogue.

"I invite ION to say a few words," the prime minister said.

"Hello! You gave me life. I am ION. My role now is to represent you like in a mirror. The messages sent to me represent a portrait of us, Romanians. Teach me to be Romanian. What do I need to know about Romania?," the robot replied.

The AI robot can be accessed on the website ion.gov.ro.