New Zealand Police unveils 1st AI officer

New Zealand Police is modernizing its services by unveiling its first Artificial intelligence (AI) officer on Wednesday.

New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush revealed the AI officer Ella. “Ella is a digital person that is powered by AI and uses real-time animation to emulate face-to-face interactions,” said Bush.

Ella, which stands for Electronic Lifelike Assistant, is part of two new digital kiosks the New Zealand Police has designed to help reduce queues in stations and to provide a modern way to connect with the public.

Ella will be stationed in the lobby of New Zealand Police’s National Headquarters from next week assisting the concierge team and talking to visitors about Police topics such as the 105 non-emergency number and police vetting.

Touch-screen electronic service points called Police Connect was also revealed on Wednesday, which will provide basic non-emergency services to the public 24 hours a day.

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Bush said that

Ella and Police Connect show how Police is embracing and exploring digital technologies to develop future-proofed and people-focused non-emergency services accessible to everyone in New Zealand.

“We’re very much just starting this journey, as Police Connect, Ella and other modern digital technologies present many more exciting opportunities for us to provide new and improved policing services”, said Bush.

New Zealand Police’s AI officer is part of an AI programme with a budget of 685,000 New Zealand dollars (442,990 U.S. dollars). This includes technology and external services to develop the AI engine and the digital person avatar. (1 New Zealand dollar equals 0.64 U.S. dollar)

Source: Xinhua – WELLINGTON