Armenian President: We shouldn’t be afraid of technological development

Artificial intelligence will empower human beings and allow them to engage in the activities, for which they were created, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian said.

He made this statement within the frames of the international scientific conference on Evolving life: the Evolution with Trade-offs, Frustration in Selection and Growing Complexity /Artificial Intelligence, which kicked off today in Yerevan.

“We shouldn’t be afraid of technological development. It isn’t going to limit us and take away our jobs. On the contrary, the technologies will contribute to the development of humanity. When the first computers were being developed 50 years ago, people were afraid of losing their jobs, while computers created a significant industry instead. When we ask children today about their career preferences, the majority of them opt for diplomacy or programming. It seems normal today, but 40 years ago people were afraid of computers,” Armen Sarkissian emphasized.

According to him, we need to understand where the world is moving and build our future in a way that we appear among the world’s leaders.

“Similar conferences are necessary for us to build our future. The event is attended by world’s leading scientists, who can describe the way they imagine the world 50-100 years from now, as well as mathematicians, who develop technologies to be used in 5-10 years,” Armen Sarkissian noted.

The Armenian President added that Armenia has significant potential which can be developed if the rights steps are taken.

Let us remind that the conference will continue until April 3. Within the frames of the event, the world’s leading scientists and experts will discuss the evolution, including the global trends and agenda of the development of artificial intelligence.

The conference is implemented by A.I. Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory with the support of the Armenian government, UITE and Support to SME Development in Armenia project.