As of today, the "Digital Assistant," the first Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) application in the Cypriot public sector, is operational on the government portal gov.cy. According to a statement by the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digital Policy, its goal is to facilitate quicker and more immediate communication between citizens and the state, providing information on issues of concern on a 24/7 basis.

Additionally, citizens will now be able to submit their queries in both Greek and English, while queries can also be typed using Greeklish characters.

It is clarified that in its first pilot (beta) version, the "Digital Assistant" will be able to assist citizens only with issues related to Social Insurance Services, while new thematic areas will gradually be added to expand the content it can respond to.

As an AI tool, the "Digital Assistant" will be trained, developed, and continuously improved through conversations and interaction with users, so it can better meet their needs, the statement notes.

Citizens will be able to submit their questions both in written and oral form, while the "Digital Assistant" will provide answers in a simple, comprehensible, and friendly manner, ensuring an optimal user experience. The interaction time for each citizen with the system cannot exceed 5 minutes per session, it is noted.

It is added that the "Digital Assistant" answers general questions and, therefore, does not require personal information such as the citizen's name, age, or address in order to respond, according to the announcement.

It is also noted that the "Digital Assistant" is based on Microsoft Azure OpenAI technologies and was implemented in accordance with Microsoft’s Responsible AI Standard, ensuring, among other things, transparency, fairness, and respect for users’ privacy and the protection of personal data (GDPR). As for the content, it has been trained on documents provided by government departments/services that are valid at the given time.

It is further clarified that interaction with the "Digital Assistant" is not equivalent to interacting with a human, and that the "Digital Assistant" is exclusively informational in nature. Its responses should not be interpreted as official advice or a replacement for consultation with specialized personnel.