The digital assistant “ADA”; Photo: Government of the Republic of North Macedonia
Investors and citizens will be able to receive information about the state aid programs of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia through the first digital assistant “ADA” which is based on artificial intelligence. This is the information provided by the Cabinet of the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Economic Affairs Fatmir Bitikji and the Fund for Innovation and Technological Development (FITR), after the presentation of this digital assistant at a government session in February this year. The institutions provide details regarding the questions of Portalb.mk, about the creator of this digital assistant, the way it will function or the services it will provide, writes Portalb.mk.
“ADA” will be available to the citizens and the interested foreign investors 24/7 and will be able to answer all most common questions regarding the state aid programs of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia. The expectation this year is that the digital assistant will be installed on the website of the Fund for Innovation and Technological Development, and the public will be timely informed about this”, it was stated from the FITR for Portalb.mk.
From the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Bitikji it was confirmed for Portalb.mk that at the moment none of the institutions in the Republic of North Macedonia uses artificial intelligence. They explain that in the first phase “ADA” will provide services for the investors.
In the first phase “ADA” will provide services in the area of state aid, that is, it will answer questions from interested investors related to the implementation of their investment plans in our country and the type and volume of state aid that is being offered through the Government’s programs. From Bitikji’s Office it was indicated that it will collect data only about the parameters of the investment projects of the entities that they will personally choose to share with the virtual assistant”.
According to them, the advantages are numerous, but there is no risk of using “ADA”.
“The advantages include fast and open access to information, unified sharing of investment opportunities, simultaneously saving time and resources, etc.” From the point of view of the information provider, there is no risk because it is a matter of information and data that are now publicly available. From the point of view of the service users, there is also no risk because they share basic information about their plans that are collected in a database which is managed and monitored by people from the institutions, who work with potential investors on a daily basis”, was the answer from Bitikji’s Office.
The inspiration for the design of this tool is Ada Lovelace, who is considered the first woman programmer in the world. According to the explanation of the Government, in the future the digital assistant “ADA” will be the main point of contact for services for the citizens, and it will be fully digitized.
Actually, the presentation of the robot Chat GPT, which has the ability to speak like a human with a high degree of fluency and coherence, drew the world’s attention to the use of artificial intelligence in the service of man, but also to the possible threats it can pose.
Portalb.mk, previously wrote that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the absence of strategy or regulation exposes the citizens to the risk of potential abuse. The Republic of North Macedonia established a working group for the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, however only one meeting has been held since 2021.
According to experts, the use of artificial intelligence in the public sector would help to increase the quality of services, to save citizens’ time and money, but also to prevent corruption. However, if artificial intelligence is used non-transparently, the consequences outweigh the benefits.
This research story was prepared as part of the project “Increasing Civic Engagement in the Digital Agenda – ICEDA”, co-financed by the European Union and implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation (North Macedonia), the e-Governance Academy (Estonia), the Dosta! Campaign (Albania), Partners for Democratic Change Serbia (Serbia), NGO 35mm (Montenegro), and Open Data Kosovo (Kosovo).
This research story was prepared with the financial support of the European Union. The content of the research story is the sole responsibility of the Metamorphosis Foundation and the author and in no way reflects the views of the European Union.
Link to the original post: “ADA”, the digital assistant based on artificial intelligence that will provide the citizens with information about state aid | Meta.mk
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