Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met at the Maximos Mansion with the CEO of ElevenLabs, Mati Staniszewski, at the Maximos Mansion, and subsequently attended the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Greek Government and the company, which is among the global pioneers in the development of artificial intelligence in the field of voice technology.
During the meeting, the main areas of cooperation between the two sides were discussed , with a focus on leveraging ElevenLabs’ technology on the Gov.gr portal, in tourism, and in the preservation of local dialects and idioms in Greece.
Regarding Gov.gr, the goal is to enhance digitized services with voice functions, particularly those widely used by citizens, thereby facilitating equal access and service for all users. In a second phase, the possibility of a voice interface will be explored, allowing citizens to give voice commands or ask questions verbally.
Regarding tourism, ElevenLabs’ technology is expected to be integrated into the VisitGreece portal, to help provide information and guided tours to visitors of museums and archaeological sites, and to help promote lesser-known destinations.
Regarding the preservation of our country’s linguistic heritage, a pilot digital library of local voices and dialects will be created in collaboration with the “Athena” Research Center and the Institute for Language and Speech Processing. In the first phase, the natural speech of speakers of distinct dialects will be recorded to serve as the basis for creating a digital voice.
During the discussion, views were also exchanged on the potential use of voice models in civil protection, where Greece already has the proven “112” early warning system “112,” as well as on how to better connect ancient Greek philosophy with the modern public.
Also participating in the meeting on behalf of the government were Minister of Digital Governance Dimitris Papastergiou and Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni.
At the start of the meeting, the Prime Minister and the CEO of ElevenLabs had the following exchange (unofficial translation from English):
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: I am particularly pleased to welcome you to Athens today, Mati, you and your team, and I am truly delighted about the agreement we are about to sign. Usually, when we think about artificial intelligence, we approach it through the lens of models and computing infrastructure. And of course, we’re doing a lot of things in that area. But, at the end of the day, artificial intelligence has the potential to truly improve the way people live, communicate, and access opportunities. That is why I believe this partnership we are launching today is so important.
We are particularly interested in creating an accessible, people-centered digital state. I believe we have made tremendous progress in recent years. We are implementing one of the most ambitious digital transformation strategies compared to any other European country. We provide more than 2,200 digital services to our citizens. Of course, in the past we viewed Gov.gr as a screen with options, where citizens typed in their requests, but artificial intelligence opens up entirely new opportunities for interacting with the government in a way that is fully conversational, multilingual, voice-enabled, and, ultimately, much more intuitive.
I am excited by the possibilities we can explore for integrating this technology into our digital services. Especially for the elderly, people with disabilities, and Greeks living abroad. I believe this will make a huge difference.
Of course, however, I am also very pleased that we are expanding this collaboration beyond public services. In the tourism sector—and we’ve discussed this many times with the Minister—these technologies can significantly help people experience all that Greece has to offer in entirely new ways and make our history, culture, and destinations accessible in every language.
I am also fascinated by the third aspect of this collaboration, which concerns the preservation of our rich linguistic heritage, with the various dialects that are still spoken in Greece. Unfortunately, we are in danger of losing some of them, and the ability of artificial intelligence to record this linguistic wealth and keep it alive for future generations is truly exciting.
So, I am particularly pleased with this collaboration. We must not approach artificial intelligence, you know, with fear and passivity. We are open to partnering with innovative companies to help them test their models on a national scale. This is precisely the philosophy embodied in the memorandum of understanding we will sign, and I am truly proud that we will be building this partnership together.
So, welcome to Greece, and I’m excited about this journey that is just beginning.
Mati Staniszewski: Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, for your leadership. I also thank your team for its leadership in the fields of artificial intelligence and digital services. I am particularly excited about the memorandum of understanding and, as you mentioned, its three pillars: implementation across 2,200 public services, as well as boosting tourism and preserving languages.
Greece has been an important part of ElevenLabs from the very beginning. We have a Greek head of research in engineering, we have a Greek leading our field deployment efforts, and some of our first corporate clients were from Greece. So, I’m even more excited about what Greece is doing, and I’m glad to be part of this ambitious effort regarding the use of voice features.