Greece’s online public services platform gov.gr launched its first artificial intelligence assistant, mAIgov.gr.

Incorporated into the digital platform’s home page as an on-screen widget, the AI assistant operates as a helper that processes users’ queries and directs them to the appropriate section of gov.gr, which already features more than 1,607 different general services or the 3,270 administrative services of the National Registry of Administrative Procedures, the official register of procedures of the Greek Public Sector.

More than 4,500 queries were submitted to mAigov in the first two-and-a-half hours since it went live.

At a special event, officials described it as the Greek government’s first decisive step in its strategic plan to becoming a pioneering country in the study and application of artificial intelligence in the European Union, and also to be the first country to actually introduce proper generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI) in the public sector, putting the technology to the service of citizens.

In terms of its hands-on usability, mAigov BETA can take all the anonymized queries (also stored in the system for 20 days) via a desktop computer/laptop or even a smartphone. It can handle 240 chats per minute in the Greek language.

The Greek state’s first chat bot was designed using cutting-edge technologies based on artificial intelligence and cloud computing models, implemented in accordance with the Microsoft Responsible AI Standard ensuring, among other things, transparency, equality and respect for user privacy and the protection of personal data (GDPR).