A three-day International online conference on artificial intelligence and data analysis Artificial Intelligence Journey 2021, which is one of the key events of the Year of Science and Technology in Russia, has opened today at the World Trade Center Moscow. The event is organized by Sberbank PJSC, one of the largest banks in Russia and one of the leading global financial institutions,. The partners of the conference are Intel and Huawei companies and the Russian Direct Investment Fund as well.
The opening ceremony was attended by Assistant to President of Russia Maxim Oreshkin and First Deputy Chairman of the Sberbank Executive Board Alexander Vedyakhin.
Welcoming the participants Alexander Vedyakhin noted: «AI Journey 2021 is an exciting journey into the world of artificial intelligence. <...> The potential of AI is currently extremely large, it is applied in a huge number of industries, both in finance and the social sphere as well».
Alexander Vedyakhin has mentioned that on the first day of the conference, experts will discuss business and the development of artificial intelligence (AI), the role of new technologies in ESG and sustainable development, the impact of AI on public life in general and individual sectors of the economy. A dedicated session on AI ethics is planned. The second – named scientific - day will be devoted to the latest achievements in the field of AI. Also on this day, the announcement of Sber AI products will be held, the winners and prize-winners of the international online competition for data analysis and AI among adults (AI Journey Contest) with a prize fund of more than 8 million rubles will be awarded as well as the winners of the International Competition on Artificial Intelligence for Children (AIIJC) organized by Sber and the AI Alliance. On the third day, a conference for middle and high school students interested in data analysis and AI technologies (AI Journey Junior) will take place.
In conclusion, Alexander Vedyakhin emphasized that AI Journey is being held for the sixth year. During this time, the conference has become one of the largest events in the world in the field of AI, a key global platform for discussing the prospects for the development of artificial intelligence and data analysis.
In his turn, Maxim Oreshkin noted: «The conference has already six years, it will be held for the third year with the participation of President of Russia Vladimir Putin. <...> Artificial intelligence is more and more penetrates our life. In several spheres it is already familiar - for example, if we talk about logistics and finance. In addition, artificial intelligence is increasingly used in healthcare, helping physicians make important decisions, especially during a complicated pandemic period.<...> I am sure that as digitalization progresses, AI will be used in Russia more and more. <...> The penetration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into the Russian economy will create an additional 3 million working places. <...> Advanced technologies are applied to improve the quality of life of citizens. Russia is among the global leaders in the development of AI - for example, it occupies a leading position in the field of finance. At the same time, it is necessary to accelerate the on practice process of introduction of AI, strengthening any movement forward».
AI Journey 2021 - is a series of events on artificial intelligence and data analysis held by leading Russian and international companies, leaders in the development and application of artificial intelligence technologies.
As Alexander Vedyakhin said on the eve of AI Journey 2021, «AI Journey annually brings together tens of thousands of people from all over the world - both professionals in the field of artificial intelligence and data analysis, and simply passionate about up to date technologies».
AI Journey 2021's business will include panel discussions, business sessions, various presentations, Keynote Talks, workshops and many others.
Top world and Russian experts in the field of artificial intelligence, representatives of leading companies in the development and implementation of AI technologies in various spheres of business and life will speak at the conference. Among them there are the head of the scientific council of the AI Institute, director of the Laboratory of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research Dalle Molle - IDSIA (Switzerland); Juergen Schmidhuber, Lab Director, IDSIA; Chief scientific advisor, AIRI (Artificial Intelligence Research Institute), Thomas Mikolov, Senior Researcher, CIIRC CTU; Michael Bronstein, Professor at Imperial College London and the University of Lugano; Head of Graph Deep Learning on Twitter; Vice President of NVIDIA Marc Hamilton (USA); Intuitive Foundation President Catherine Mohr; Somdeb Majumdar, Director of Intel's Artificial Intelligence Lab; Stephen Brobst, Chief Technology Officer, Teradata; Rice University professor, founder of ThirdAI Corp Anshumali Shrivastava; Ben Goertzel, founder and CEO of SingularityNET (Netherlands); Ph.D., Director for Basic Research, AIRI, Head of the Laboratory of Neural Systems and Deep Learning, MIPT (Russia) Mikhail Burtsev; professor, head of the ADASE scientific group, Skoltech (Russia), Evgeny Burnaev and many others. The first results of its projects will also be presented by the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute.
According to Alexander Vedyakhin, effective development and implementation of solutions in high-tech areas of AI and data analysis require constant exchange of information and experience not only within the country, but also at the international level: « We, at Sberbank, set ourselves the task of being a catalyst for such global interaction, within the framework of the AI Journey conference as well, which has already become one of the key discussion platforms for industry leaders. Every year we invite to participate in AI Journey those who are actively working at the forefront of science, changing the world for the better».
Among the participants of the event, gathered to discuss the most pressing topics of the industry, there are representatives of international organizations, business, government and the scientific community and technical specialists, more than 250 experts in total.
Last year, AI Journey became the largest AI and data analytics event in the world: about 30 thousand specialists from more than 100 countries took part in the conference. There were 225 speakers at the conference, and their reports were viewed more than 30 million times in total.