PicsArt CEO: Armenia lacks AI experts and school

PicsArt co-founder and CEO Hovhannes Avoyan believes that offering artificial intelligence (AI) solutions is necessary from the very first day of a startup.

He shared that opinion at Unleash the Future tech conference in Yerevan.

“In order to have competitive product and be one step ahead of everyone else, you need to think AI First. Armenia has advantages in terms of AI investment, as we had traditions and famous schools in mathematics and physics, which can become the base for schools of new generation. Add our experienced Diaspora experts in AI to the mix. Moreover, Armenia has the critical amount of IT companies, which creates demand. Today we already have tangible demand for AI specialists, so that issue must be solved,” Hovhannes Avoyan stressed.

According to PicsArt CEO, there’s obvious lack of AI experts and AI school in Armenia now.

“The best AI schools outside of Silicon Valley are considered the Russian, the Ukrainian, and the Belarusian. Armenia can use that. For instance, PicsArt often invites specialists from Russia. Artificial intelligence is our future. It’s not just a technology, and PicsArt is transforming into an AI-based company,” Hovhannes Avoyan stated.

He expressed an opinion that Armenia needs to work on education to become a leader in the global AI market.

“We should create good educational base for people in mathematics, statistics, as well as AI courses in both bachelor and master’s, and invite professors and experts from other countries. We can’t invent everything by ourselves, we should get help from the world too. We should think about organizing AI-related hackathons and develop AI mobile apps in Armenia,” he noted.

PicsArt co-founder stressed that using AI in Armenia will facilitate increase of mass production.

“We should be able to react soon and prepare people for automation. Some professions disappear, others are created. Understanding that will enable you to use it to your interests and get substantial economic growth. Military application of artificial intelligence is also important for Armenia. Ultra-fast response makes it possible to gain advantage over the rival, and if we don’t manage to do that, we’ll fall out of competition. Becoming a country with expertise in AI will also elevate Armenia’s reputation, which will increase big companies’ interest towards our country,” Hovhannes Avoyan said.

Narine Daneghyan