AI Center of Excellence - hope or despair. What do AI experts think about the new Ukrainian center for integration of AI solutions?

About appropriateness

Opinions were divided regarding the relevance of the AI ​​Center of Excellence, but two out of three experts consider the project to be highly relevant, primarily because it emphasizes Ukraine’s competitiveness.

«The integration of AI into government processes, business, education, and defense opens up new opportunities for modernizing management systems, optimizing operations, and increasing productivity,» says Mykhailo Patsan, an investor, entrepreneur, expert in business analysis using AI, Web3 developer, and founder of Learn to Earn Global. This, he says, allows Ukrainian companies to not only keep up with global trends, but also actively shape them, which in the long term can provide the country with a competitive advantage, even with a limited budget.

Oleksiy Minakov, an expert in PR, communications, and the application of AI technologies, emphasized that the project is definitely timely, because AI is the No. 1 technological trend in the world, a general-purpose technology, like the Internet or electricity.

«This affects all industries and spheres. Ukraine as a state cannot afford to ignore technological progress, especially when the context is such that many countries in the world are making a strategic bet on AI. We are guaranteed to lose competitiveness as a country if we do not move in the direction of artificial intelligence,» adds Minakov.

About reality

Oleksiy Minakov reminded that any innovations and breakthroughs are always considered marginal, unrealistic, fantastic until they are implemented. «For example, who would have thought 5-6 years ago that Ukraine would become a leader in digital transformations in Europe? Or that we would become a world leader in the use of digital solutions on the battlefield? But it happened. Therefore, becoming a world leader in the development and implementation of AI is another challenge that may seem absurd to someone today, but this does not mean that it is unrealistic,» the expert believes. However, he emphasizes that this requires effort and especially extraordinary efforts.

Given the high level of IT talent in Ukraine, the growing innovation ecosystem, and the existing experience in the field of digital transformation, the creation and further expansion of such a center is an absolutely realistic task, says Mykhailo Patsan. Of course, in his opinion, this will require significant efforts in the process of attracting qualified personnel, organizing teamwork, and ensuring adequate funding.

Oleksiy Minkov added about the relationship between the implementation of the center’s stated plans and a qualified team. «The plans for the year are quite realistic if the center manages to form an effective team (because there are only two managers there now) and attract the necessary financial resources,» the expert emphasizes.

But Mykhailo Patsan adds that modern world realities can even help the ministry’s ambitious plans come true. «Thanks to the flexibility of the market and the ability of Ukrainian companies to adapt to new technological trends, the implementation of AI solutions can be carried out quite quickly, which will allow the project to be effectively scaled to the ambitious dimensions outlined in the plans,» the entrepreneur notes.

Delving into the details

Delving into the plans and goals that Mykhailo Fedorov, along with his deputy Oleksandr Bornyakov and AI Center of Excellence CEO Danylo Tsvok and CTO Dmytro Ovcharenko, voiced at the center’s presentation, there are some doubts about their implementation. But overall, something looks quite optimistic. Here are the theses that confuse experts and the arguments they give.

Alexey Minakov emphasized that most of the center’s key tasks for the year look quite realistic. For example:

• Create a mechanism for developing pilot AI solutions.
• Launch at least three AI products.
• Integrate AI into «Action» and «Dream».

As for AI agents in «Diya» and «Mriya», it is quite possible to integrate them, because, as Oleksiy Minakov explained, we are talking about additional AI features in existing digital products. «Developing your own language model for government services is more difficult, unless we are talking about fine-tuning ready-made models,» he added.

If we look at strategic goals, the situation is more delicate there, believes Oleksiy Minakov. Here are his arguments with the statements of other experts:

«Achieve 50% annual growth of AI startups in Ukraine»

• «A lot will depend on the financial support of such startups, on the transformation of education and the formation of startup culture in general. And, by the way, it is important to focus not only on increasing the number of AI startups, but also on helping existing startups or companies become multi-product and launch new AI products,» notes Oleksiy Minakov.
• «"Innovative startups» included in the «Innovation Development Strategy» are generally an ideal scheme for utilizing budget funds. We have a unique practice in Ukraine, when state institutions invest taxpayers' money in startups. In the civilized world, private venture funds invest in startups. Because startups are a high-risk activity, during which more than 99% of expenses are never returned,» says Konstantin Korsun.

«Develop the status of the country with the largest number of AI specialists in Europe»

• «This will depend on the transformation of education, in particular, on the formation of at least some adequate technological base of universities, the procurement and availability of GPU servers, access to computing resources, as well as educational initiatives from AI companies. A separate important factor is mathematical education, we are not very good at this, especially if you look at the PISA results. Therefore, it is an ambitious goal, but there is an extremely large amount of work to be done in this direction,» — Oleksiy Minakov.

«Lay the technological foundation for the country’s AI sovereignty with its own LLM model. In particular, a national language model (LLM) for government services has already been developed.»

• «The idea is quite logical and correct, because in the future each developed country will have its own version of the language model, so as not to be a hostage to the AI ​​models of other states, which through these models popularize and spread certain values ​​and worldviews, certain prejudices. That is, AI sovereignty is part of digital sovereignty. But here the question of details is — there are doubts that at this historical stage and the level of costs for creating AI models, we are able to do it „from scratch“. Still, it is easier and more realistic to fine-tune ready-made models and, as far as I understand, this is exactly what will happen, because plans to use solutions from Meta, in particular the open source LIama model, have already been publicly announced,» — Oleksiy Minakov.
• Konstantin Korsun, a cybersecurity expert and former head of the Cert UA cyber threat response center, called the development of a national language model utopian because, as he noted, it requires huge funds (which are not available), and also because investing in such initiatives is possible only when the products are globally oriented and there is hope that they will pay off.

«Implement AI solutions in the areas of public administration, education, military technology, and healthcare»

• «Absolutely realistic and necessary, there’s nothing to comment on,» — Oleksiy Minakov.

«Create the world’s best legal environment for the development of AI»

• «The most important thing for us as a country integrating into Europe is not to overdo it with the adaptation of European AI regulation, because the USA and China, as superpowers in the field of AI, do not have strict restrictions and there is freedom for AI companies,» — Oleksiy Minakov.

«Develop a national AI strategy and an investment program in the development of AI solutions»

• «It is quite logical that we need to have a vision and a development plan in this area, taking into account our specifics, for example, we have the potential and every chance to demonstrate leadership in certain domains such as defense tech, agro-sphere, EdTech. Dozens of countries around the world already have their own AI strategies. I would say more that we need not only a national AI strategy, but also AI strategies at the level of cities and even communities,» — Oleksiy Minakov.

About laboriousness

There is no doubt that the process of integrating artificial intelligence is resource-intensive, both in terms of human resources and financial resources.

Mykhailo Patsan emphasizes the need for careful planning, significant investments in infrastructure development, personnel training, and research activities. «However, due to the opportunity to optimize business processes and reduce costs through automation, this is a profitable investment that can bring significant long-term economic and competitive advantages to the country,» he added.

Comparing the costs of other countries, Alexey Minakov mentions that, for example:

• The European Union will allocate $56 million to create its own open source model — the OpenEuroLLM project.
• India is currently investing $57 million in three new AI centers to stimulate innovation and research in the field.
• If we talk about large-scale AI projects, the US recently announced an investment of $400 billion in AI infrastructure over 4 years.
• The Bank of China plans to allocate more than $137.5 billion over 5 years to finance AI companies — to strengthen the technological base, including the construction of data centers and related infrastructure.
• Saudi Arabia has launched the first global center of excellence in generative AI — part of their $100 billion Project Transcendence initiative, which includes building data centers, supporting startups, and developing leadership in AI.
• The UK recently published 50 recommendations for an AI breakthrough. For example, the government will provide a long-term plan for the UK’s AI infrastructure needs within 6 months, backed by a 10-year investment commitment, within 6 months it will begin expanding the AI ​​Research Resource 20-fold by 2030, and AI Growth Zones will be created to rapidly build data centres.

But this does not mean that we should act symmetrically, because we do not have such resources and capabilities. We should have a focus on certain domains.

Instead of a conclusion

We can summarize with the words of Mykhailo Patsan, who, referring to his own experience, says that such a project is not only appropriate, but also viable, and a properly organized strategy for its launch and scaling can provide Ukraine with leadership in the field of artificial intelligence, even with relatively low budget costs.

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