site.btaBulgarian Scientists to Partner with NASA, CERN, Universities, Corporations to Ensure Open AI

The INSAIT Institute at Sofia University is one of about 50 organizations in the world that received an invitation to participate in the historic first global Alliance for Artificial Intelligence, said the Ministry of Education and Science. The project was initiated by IBM and Meta, and the two companies announced it on Monday in the US. It aims to bring together the world's greatest minds from the private sector, academia and institutions with the aim of building open, safe and accountable artificial intelligence.

The total number of members at the founding of the Alliance was carefully selected and included some of the strongest universities and development centres in the world, the Ministry’s press statement reads. The Bulgarian INSAIT joined leading scientific institutions such as NASA, CERN, the universities of Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, ETH Zurich, etc., as well as technology companies such as Sony, Linux, Intel, AMD and Dell.

The Bulgarian Institute will not only participate in the Alliance, but also registered its name among the founders of the initiative. The global influence of the organizations included is also indicative of the aggregated data - their total budget for development activity exceeds USD 80 billion per year, they employ a total of 1 million people, as well as over 400,000 students, said the Education Ministry.

At the project launch, IBM and Meta stressed that this is a key moment for the development of artificial intelligence and its future. These technologies are introducing capabilities almost daily that can improve the way people work, live, learn, and interact with each other, they pointed out. However, the organizations noted that this incredible progress has been made possible by decades of innovation in an open ecosystem between science, businesses, and institutions. As artificial intelligence advances, however, humanity must also develop the ability to manage safety. This is also a top priority for the Alliance.

A strategic goal is also to shift the focus from large corporations that develop technologies with their own vision for artificial intelligence. That is why the Alliance places the focus of the future transformation precisely on open cooperation and the use of the expertise of the widest possible range by organizations (small companies, academic circles, scientific agencies, large enterprises, institutions and others), one of which is the Bulgarian INSAIT Institute, the Education Ministry noted.

INSAIT, an Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology, located in Sofia, Bulgaria, is the first institute in Eastern Europe to offer world-class working conditions corresponding to those of leading Western universities and institutes. The institute is structured as a special unit of the Sofia University and was created in partnership with the Swiss ETH Zurich and EPFL, two of the best technological universities in the world. Leading scientists from top American, European and Israeli universities and research laboratories lead and advise the institute. INSAIT's main focus is on scientific excellence: conducting world-class research, attracting outstanding international scientists and training the next generation of students and technology leaders.