00:00Kazakhstan is following global AI trends, expanding IT experts and growing its own AI talent pool.
00:09In this episode, we take a closer look at the plans, the projects and the people driving the nation's AI transformation.
00:19About 100 AI startups open in Kazakhstan each year,
00:22and the government provided a number of most advanced supercomputers and other infrastructure to support this drive.
00:28But with a significant brain drain, it is training specialist that was set as the main goal of the nation's AI ambitions.
00:35In the past, we have the most advanced supercomputer class.
00:41Our mission is to build innovative innovative eco-juice.
00:48In the past, we will be able to take a closer look at them.
00:53IT and AI training became a part of curriculum throughout the education process and a number of tech centers.
01:00The most sophisticated one is Alem AI.
01:02Why is the establishment of the International AI Center?
01:06Alem AI is an important step for Kazakhstan and Central Asia overall.
01:10In the AI industry, the most important resource is talent.
01:15So Alem AI is the center of competence which is designed to train people, to train specialists, to support startups and bring them to the global markets.
01:27We show our ambitions by building and launching such projects as Alem AI.
01:32The government has launched the AI SANA program providing free courses for school children, university students and the wider public.
01:39The AI SANA training is delivered through Astana Hub, Kazakhstan's main tech innovation hub.
01:44The initial mission of Astana Hub is to provide support for tech talents at every stage of their development.
01:53So we have many programs dedicated to different types of people.
01:57So if you are just a beginner, you might become a startup entrepreneur by joining our program which is called Startup Garage.
02:06If you want to start a startup especially in the AI field, you might join AIpreneurs.
02:11But if you are aiming to become an engineer, you might join tomorrow's school, let's say, or we have many other schools within the program which is called TechOrda.
02:23The outcome for us is to increase IT export.
02:27This year we are going to reach $1 billion of IT exports, which is incredible.
02:32But the next goal is to reach $5 billion.
02:35And, of course, the main resource of reaching this goal is human capital.
02:39Currently, artificial intelligence is taught at 79 institutions, educating more than 60,000 students.
02:45At Mahsoud Narikbaev University, AI has become a mandatory subject for all final year students.
02:51The university has opened artificial intelligence labs and is set to launch a new AI-focused academic program next year.
02:58We started this process several years ago and from the very beginning we started to implement mandatory courses for all final year students.
03:07We developed a hybrid program AI plus X, which means that two first years it will be deep data science, fundamentals and machine learning.
03:17But after two years of this study it will be not only a technical program because students will be free to choose any direction in our university.
03:26Artificial intelligence is not about replacing universities, it's about reshaping.
03:32The government is set to train one million citizens in AI over the next five years.
03:37A new generation of AI specialists will push forward the country's digital transformation, bring AI to every sector of the economy and boost IT expert.
03:46Curious about Kazakhstan's journey from e-government to AI-powered government, we visited the Digital Government Support Center to get a closer look.
03:54Our main goal, first of all, is we have some mandates from our president to design a strategic framework, how we can deploy artificial intelligence from different spheres for the economy.
04:07And today we have the opportunity to make and design a strategic framework.
04:13We have some priorities. First of all, it's human capital.
04:16In the previous month we launched a digital IT academia. Second, it's economy sphere. Third, develop public services.
04:25And the next, it depends with our infrastructure because maybe you know we have some super computer and we need to implement super computer to the whole sphere.
04:34Digital sphere, I think today is the most fast changes sphere in the world.
04:39Artificial intelligence offers vast opportunities but significant risks.
04:43Facing these challenges head-on, Kazakhstan is building a legal framework to regulate AI.
04:48The country was among the first to pass AI law and this year it launched a dedicated ministry of artificial intelligence to steer the technology's future.
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