Greece is set to introduce a new artificial intelligence (AI) app to enhance the tourist experience in the country, as revealed during The Economist event “In the World of Artificial Intelligence—New Tools, New Possibilities.”
During a panel at the event, the initiative—a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Digital Governance—was shared with the public.
The purpose of the AI-powered tourism app is to enhance the tourist experience in Greece by providing a more intuitive and personalized visit, leveraging AI technologies to offer guidance and information.
In May last year, ERT, Greece’s state-owned broadcaster, unveiled the country’s first-ever virtual TV presenter powered by AI. The virtual TV presenter, dubbed “Hermes” after the ancient Greek messenger of the Gods, was shown reading a short message from ERT’s Studio 4. This was ahead of the political leaders’ debate hosted prior to the Greek elections on May 21st.
Greece is not the first country to have experimented with an AI TV presenter. Kuwait also unveiled its own version in April of last year. Whether the trend catches on as a supplement to or complete replacement of human newsreaders or whether it will largely be a gimmick remains to be seen, but it certainly raises interesting questions for the journalism and tech sectors.
Greece’s ministry fined over AI surveillance
In April this year, Greece’s Ministry of Migration and Asylum received a 175,000 euro fine for violating data and privacy protection regulations in its implementation of two high-tech surveillance and security systems deployed in several Greek refugee camps.
In the decision, the Greek Data Protection Authority (DPA) found the country’s migration ministry violated several provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) while launching the Centaur and Hyperion systems. It was also found that Greece failed to meet its obligations as a data controller.
Centaur has been described as an automated security system that relies on algorithms (artificial intelligence behavioral analytics) and hardware, including cameras, drones, and sensors, to automatically detect purported threats in some refugee camps, alerting authorities locally and in Athens. The second system, Hyperion, uses biometric fingerprint data to facilitate entry and exit from the facilities. Both systems are funded by the European Union (EU).
A Computer Weekly investigation published in October 2023 uncovered serious issues with the roll-out of the programs and apparent efforts by Greek authorities to backpedal into GDPR compliance only after they were launched.
The penalty followed a two-year investigation by the DPA. This was launched in March 2022 after Greek civil society organizations, including Homo Digitalis, HIAS Greece, and the Hellenic Union for Human Rights, along with Associate Professor Niovi Vavoula at the University of Luxembourg, asked the authority to examine the programs’ compliance with data protection regulations.