Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko addressed the Eurasian Economic Forum’s central topic, Artificial Intelligence, in his characteristic no nonsense approach. He explained that Belarus has long developed cybernetic and AI techniques to improve the efficiency of the “real sector of the economy,” but that is different from the fantasy that AI will replace the human’s role. The EAEU met on May 28-29 in Astana, Kazakhstan.
“This is not a novelty of today. In Belarus, systematic work on this topic has been underway since the mid-1960s, beginning with the establishment of the Institute of Technical Cybernetics in Minsk. We built our own knowledge over decades.” He cited two key principles: “First of all, for us artificial intelligence is not a goal by itself, not a tribute to fashion, not a reason to hype it up and reject the practices that have worked for decades. It is first and foremost a tool that has to really work for the benefit of people and the manufacturing sector, improving the efficiency of the economy and the quality of life of citizens. Second, we chose our own path of digital development a long time ago and followed it. We refuse to blindly copy foreign technologies and rules of the game in favor of creating domestic competences and solutions of our own.”
Hence, AI is becoming part of real-sector production where its use is justified. In mechanical engineering and metalworking, for example, computer vision technologies significantly reduce manufacturing defects. “Virtual models, or what are also called digital twins of real production facilities, make it possible to fine-tune technological processes before equipment is physically assembled and launched.”
