What is artificial intelligence (AI)?

While AI is hard to define, we can say that it is an advanced IT technology, characterized by software writing new software. AI is already being used in search engines, natural language understanding, computer vision, autonomous driving, recommendation systems, supply chain optimization, and more. Future applications are even more exciting: medical diagnostics, design of new drugs and materials, elderly care, ... AI is also characterized by fast return on R&D investments and a high entrance threshold in terms of mathematical education.

About the br.ai.ns Institute

The Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development of Serbia (aka br.ai.ns Institute) has been established by the Government of Serbia based on the initiative from the Strategy for development of artificial intelligence in the Republic of Serbia: 2020-25. The Institute was formally founded on March 18, 2021 and is headquartered in Novi Sad.

Motivation

Experts estimate that the TAM of the global AI industry will grow to 500 billion US dollars in the next few years. Serbia, with its awesome mathematical talent, can certainly win 1% of that market, and then set its sights even higher!

How are we going to achieve that?

The Institute will be a "factory" of AI leaders, who in turn, will create the AI sector in Serbia. We will achieve this with enthusiastic help from our established AI scientists around the world, who kindly accepted to mentor our scientists: they will help them identify fruitful areas of research, teach them how to secure research funding, and how to publish their joint discoveries in top journals and conferences. Along the way, the Institute will act as a start-up incubator and will encourage our scientists to patent their discoveries and to start new companies in order to commercialize them.

Which areas of AI are we going to advance?

The areas of our research are a combination of strategic goals of Serbia and the areas our mentors helped us identify as most fruitful. At a high level, we will have groups for computer vision, natural language processing, medical applications of AI, mathematical foundations of machine learning, and a group for novel areas. One of the many interesting applications of AI will be in the area of drug design and discovery, leading us to what children explain best when they ask: "Why don't we show a picture of a virus to a computer and it will make us a vaccine?" That kind of technology is what we want to work towards!