The public in the age of Artificial Intelligence. Next week he will make his “revelations.” to the Greek public the digital assistant of gov.grthe first attempt of the Greek State to enter artificial intelligence, while in the middle of this month it will be auctioned the “Daedalos” supercomputer, with a total budget of 50 million euros. The above was announced from Thessaloniki by the Minister of Digital Governance, Dimitris Papastergiou, speaking at the 11th international conference entitled “New Horizons in Artificial Intelligence”, organized by the Cultural Society of Entrepreneurs of Northern Greece, in collaboration with the Navarino Network and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

According to Mr. Papastergiou, the digital assistant will be presented on Wednesday to the prime minister, and the next day to journalists. As he explained, the new digital tool for public administration using artificial intelligence will give combined answers to simple to more complex questions, while its operation will help citizens’ lives. Describing the basic idea of ​​the “digital assistant”, Mr. Papastergiou stated that “we are trying to see how we can help a citizen who is looking for something in the public administration or on gov.gr, and either cannot find it easily or cannot express it”. He mentioned as a typical example the case of a citizen of a third country who is under international protection and asks to know if he is entitled to a residence permit.

“11% of the top artificial intelligence developers have graduated from Greek universities”

Speaking about artificial intelligence in our country, Mr. Papastergiou emphasized that “in addition to people, it also needs infrastructure.” “The news is good” in terms of infrastructure, he underlined, referring to the Greek supercomputer “Daedalos”- “one of the five largest machines in Europe”, as he said, which will be placed in the technology park of Lavrio (with a total budget of 35 million euros and an additional 15 million euros for the other mechanical infrastructures).

“In addition to this project, through the Recovery Fund in collaboration with the European Investment Bank, we must not only consume, but also produce so that we can give the “weapons” to the academic and research community to “run” various tests and ” project” to continue to be at the cutting edge of technology”, emphasized Mr. Papastergiou. Citing the data of an international study, he said that 11% of the top artificial intelligence developers have graduated from Greek universities.

Anna Diamantopoulou: “Connecting digital skills with humanities studies”

In the same panel that the Minister of Digital Governance spoke about, entitled “Artificial Intelligence and National Strategy”, and moderated by the Minister of Immigration and Asylum Dimitris Kairidis, the former minister and European Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou also participated. She expressed the opinion that Greece, despite the leaps it has made in recent years, is still, in the European comparison, in the last places in terms of digital transformation in public administration. “While we were making strides, so were others. That’s why we need double and triple speed” he pointed out.

Referring to artificial intelligence, Ms. Diamantopoulou noted that it brings about great changes in all sciences. But she was quick to express concern about its use, as for example in cases of judicial decisions. “The question is who are behind the decisions made by the algorithm” he said characteristically.

Placing the bet for the new generations to use the new tools of technology, the former minister prioritized the “horizontal and vertical” training of teachers and professors as an immediate national priority, while pointing out the need to fundamentally change the curricula in one direction combining digital skills with humanities studies.

“Educators are the ones who will help children use the new tools,” he said, warning that if this connection of digital skills with humanities studies is not achieved “this generation will have a reduced ability to detect” the dangers of artificial intelligence.