Solutions from Ukraine: Ukrainian foreign ministry introduces AI-powered digital person for consular media announcements

For the first time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine presented a digital person created using artificial intelligence technologies. This person will officially comment on consular information for the media.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' press service reports this.

What is the solution?

According to the department, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative for Consular Affairs, Victoria Shi [in Ukrainian, AI is pronounced as "shi" – ed.], was based on a real-life person – Ukrainian singer Rosalie Nombre. She agreed to serve as a model for the representative. The project team took photos and digitized her image.

How does it work?

The department made it clear that the consular representative and her actual counterpart are two distinct individuals. Moving forward, only Victoria Shi's digital persona will officially speak on behalf of the MFA's consular service.

"My name symbolizes our main goal—Ukraine's victory—and my last name—the artificial intelligence that created me. My job will be to convey to the public operational and verified information of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

I will inform journalists about the work of consuls in protecting the rights and interests of Ukrainian citizens abroad, responding to incidents or emergencies, and other news," Victoria Shi said in her congratulatory video message.

https://youtu.be/6a2Jf6qXIaI

Victoria Shi's comments will be featured on:

• the official resources of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine;

• websites and social media pages;

• press releases by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs press service for journalists.

"The use of a digital person generated by artificial intelligence for consular commenting is primarily a saving of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' time and resources. Real diplomats will be able to be more efficient and focus on other tasks of providing assistance to citizens," said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also provided Victoria Shi with several levels of protection against digital forgeries.

Each original video of the consular representative has a QR code that leads to a text version of the same comment on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs's official page.

If a QR code isn't available or if you visit a different website, the video won't be considered genuine.

For reference:

It's important to point out that Ukrainian men of military age and living abroad have limited access to the services provided by the Ukrainian consulate. These restrictions were expected to be implemented, but not immediately; they were supposed to take effect after the new law on mobilization was passed.

Rubryka discusses how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is implementing new restrictions on consular services for men of the conscription age. The piece explains the reasoning behind these changes and questions their validity. Find out more in our feature: "Restriction of Consular Services for Men of Conscription Age: What Is Wrong With This."