Head of State Statistics Service emphasizes importance of integrating AI with statistics
The integration of artificial intelligence systems with official statistical data has become one of the key topics of discussion at the international level.
This was stated by Arsen Makarchuk, Head of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, who participated in the annual meeting of the UN Statistical Commission, in a comment to a Ukrinform correspondent in New York.
Arsen Makarchuk, head of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine
According to Makarchuk, modern AI models are increasingly being used by people as the primary tool for searching for information. At the same time, he said, current AI systems are unable to work correctly with statistical indicators.
“The problem is that Gemini, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, etc. — all of them actually work poorly with numbers, focusing primarily on text,” Makarchuk said. Because of this, language models often form answers based on text materials from the internet, which may contain inaccurate or outdated data.
According to him, this problem was confirmed by World Bank experiments, the results of which were presented during the Statistical Commission events.
“If, for example, you ask for certain data for the same period at different times, you can get different results, and none of them are true,” said the head of the State Statistics Service.
He stressed that this situation creates a risk of undermining confidence in official statistics.
The international statistical community is currently looking for ways to establish interaction between official statistical databases and AI systems. “The task is to bring our databases and artificial intelligence tools together,” Makarchuk said.
This process should take place in two directions: statistical services should better structure their data, in particular through metadata, and technology companies should create tools that can work correctly with such databases.
He added that during discussions in New York, representatives of technology companies, including Microsoft, confirmed their willingness to work in this direction.
Makarchuk said that the meeting of heads of national statistical services from around the world provides an opportunity to hold professional discussions and exchange experiences between agencies of different countries.
He noted that formally, the UN Statistical Commission mainly legitimizes decisions that are developed throughout the year by specialized working groups. Ukraine already participates in some of these groups and intends to expand its presence.
As reported by Ukrinform, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Microsoft have signed a memorandum of cooperation that provides for the development of digital infrastructure and AI, as well as the introduction of innovative technologies.
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