Ukraine has unveiled an AI-generated spokeswoman named Victoria, who will make official statements on behalf of its foreign ministry.
Authorities said they would use a digital speakerphone "for the first time in history."
Victoria Shi was dressed in a dark suit in a presentation posted on social media. The figure gestures with its hands and moves its head as it speaks.
The foreign ministry's press office told AFP that the statements given by Shi would not be generated by artificial intelligence, but "written and verified by real people".
"It's only the visual part that AI helps us generate," the statement said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba explained that the new spokeswoman was "a technological leap that no diplomatic service in the world has yet made."
The main reason for its creation was to "save time and resources" for diplomats, he said.
Shi's creators are a team called The Game Changers, who have also made virtual reality content related to the war in Ukraine.
The speaker's name is based on the word victory and the Ukrainian word for artificial intelligence: тушний интелект /ШI/.
Shea's appearance and voice are modeled after a real person: Rosalie Nombre, a singer and former contestant on the Ukrainian version of the reality show "The Bachelor."
Nombre was born in the now Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. She has 54,000 followers on her Instagram account, which she uses to discuss stereotypes about Ukrainians.
To avoid forgeries, the statements will be accompanied by a QR code linking them to the text versions on the ministry's website. /BGNES
