As AI becomes an imperative aspect of day-to-day life, certain nations have been taking steps to ensure their academic institutions give it adequate attention.
Last week, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education, Gulzat Kobenova, announced that artificial intelligence studies are now compulsory at state universities.
“Every student will be able to learn how to apply AI in their profession, develop new technologies, or create start-ups in the future,” she said at a press conference.
Kobenova highlighted that 93 domestic schools have already made amendments to their curriculum to recognize the importance of AI. Furthermore, 20 institutes have now launched a series of 25 new programs in the evolving discipline.
One of the aims of the educational initiative is to attract more foreign students into Kazakhstan and boost the country’s standing in the field. Kazakh authorities want to attract 10,000 AI professionals into the nation per annum.
The news coincides with the implementation of the Kazakh “AI-Sana” program. More than 390,000 students have completed its foundational courses and approximately 3,000 teachers have obtained certificates.
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Kazakhstan makes other AI leadership moves
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said last month that artificial intelligence should be a core focus of the nation’s economic strategy. He explained that being competitive in multiple global industries is impossible without it and that Kazakhstan’s rate of progress in the field has been insufficient.
But, the Kazakh leader believes local AI startups could achieve unicorn status if resources are honed to help foster their growth.
Nonetheless, Kazakhstan has been making significant progress in the sector. The country installed the most powerful AI supercomputer in Central Asia at a data centre run by the Ministry of Digital Development in July. It features NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) (ETR: NVD) H200 processors.
This advanced system supports Kazakhstan’s first national large language model: KazLLM. The AI tool was developed by the Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence at Nazarbayev University in Astana. This research hub has also pioneered a national image generation model named Beynele and a multipurpose AI model for audio and language integration called Oylan.
Additionally, Kazakhstan formally opened Alem.AI early this year — an international centre for machine learning and other related fields of study. Its research laboratory, AlemLab, “will empower Kazakhstani engineers and developers to create real-world AI products for both the public and private sectors,” according to a local minister.
The United Nations has predicted that the AI market’s share of the international tech industry will ascend by 22 per cent within the next eight years.
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