Launch of FAO’s First Virtual HR Colleague “Ms FAO AI” Opening Remarks

Dear Colleagues,

Good afternoon and welcome!

Today marks another important milestone in our journey together towards building a more efficient and effective, fit-for-purpose FAO.

Following on the successful launch of FAO CertusCare - our first digital HR chatbot in July 2025, we now take the next bold step with the launch of FAO’s first Virtual Colleague: Ms FAO AI.

This is not only a technological advancement, but also a reflection of our collective attitude, our willingness to learn, to change, and to lead.

It represents the spirit of a modern and dynamic FAO: openness, evolution, iteration, resilience, bold action and deliverables.

Innovation and application are key to FAO.

80 years ago, our founders used the tools of their time - science, data and multilateral cooperation - to build an Organization working to end hunger and malnutrition.

Today, we use the tools of our time - digital systems, knowledge networks, and collaborative thinking - to make FAO smarter, faster, and more connected than ever before in working towards our mandate.

But no innovation can succeed without human values – we need to always put people first. Technology must serve humanity, not replace it.

That is why this Virtual Colleague was not designed as a robot, but as a companion. A friend that supports colleagues in making informed decisions, answering questions, and making our services more reliable, more inclusive, more efficient, more effective and more accountable.

With this new colleague “Miss FAO AI”, FAO enters a new era of operational excellence, service quality, and tiding of new tools.

Available 24 hours a day, across every region and time zone, she will assist colleagues from headquarters to country offices, helping them focus on what matters most: delivering better results for our Members, and for the people we serve.

When we launched Digital FAO in 2019, our goal was to modernize systems, and to modernize thinking.

To move from paper to practice, from delays to delivery, from ordinary to extraordinary.

We turned every challenge or crisis - even the pandemic - into an opportunity and redesign how FAO works, and to deliver it better.

Today, that same spirit continues through this new colleague and I invite everyone to connect with Ms FAO AI - to explore, to experiment, and to engage, even with simple or unexpected questions, because every interaction helps her learn and helps us grow together.

This initiative reflects the Four Es of our management vision: Efficiency, Effectiveness, Excellence, and Engagement.

It also strengthens the aspiration of the Four Betters set out in our Strategic Framework to guide our work.

This milestone truly embodies the spirit of One FAO, where innovation and people move together, hand in hand.

As we continue to celebrate FAO’s 80th anniversary, we are guided by the Chinese saying: 工欲善其事，必先利其器 - To do a good job, one must first sharpen the tools.

Let us continue to learn together, to innovate together, and to grow together, so we can be better together - building a modern, dynamic and people centered FAO for a better world!

Thank you.