Buenos Aires province has become the first district in Argentina to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in government, launching its rules just two weeks after a city appointed a chatbot as a public official.

Earlier this month, Zárate mayor Marcelo Matzkin appointed a chatbot named ZARA as “director general of non-human citizen services.” Official paperwork calls ZARA “a non-human civil servant” working at the undersecretariat of innovation and digital accessibility. 

Intended to cut waiting times and expand access to services, the bot’s decisions, communications, and responses are to be considered legally and administratively binding, according to the decree naming ZARA to the role.

The unusual appointment — and the provincial........

© Buenos Aires Herald