Italian Rai-Radiotelevisione Italiana prepared an extensive program about Armenia: President Armen Sarkissian wants to make the country a leader in the area of artificial intelligence

Rai-Radiotelevisione Italiana public TV company has prepared an extensive program about Armenia and prospects of the country’s technological development and noted that Armenia, which has no access to the sea and whose borders are mostly closed, is aspiring to develop in the digital environment. “We travelled to a country which the Soviet Union had entrusted with the research in the area of information technology. Armenia elected as its president a person who is a scientist, businessman, and physicist and who wants to make sweeping changes in the country through artificial intelligence. He presented to us his theory of quantum politics – policy in the quantum era,” the famous anchor and journalist Barbara Carfagna says.

In Armenia, the journalist met with and talked to President Armen Sarkissian, heads of some IT companies, and visited the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies.

“At the moment, we are at the crossroad of the classical and a new quantum world,” President Armen Sarkissian says while the journalist notes that this political theory of the President of Armenia comes from science, namely from the quantum theory which in the previous century turned upside down the classical physics and societies, creating the changes which we are going through because of technological progress. The journalist stresses that Armenia is one of those small countries which face huge difficulties and try to leap forward through major investments in the technological area as it did the most technologically developed countries - Korea, Israel, and Singapore.

“We are living a quantum life and the first thing we have to do is to change the system of education. Armenia can become a world leader not in the military, political or physical strength areas but a development leader by becoming a world hub for the data of global significance,” President Sarkissian tells the journalist. “Israel’s success is a much discussed topic; it’s a small country, the same with Singapore, which is a harbor in the ocean, a trade hub with a considerable flow of goods and developed infrastructure. In the new, non-material world there is another apparent ocean – the ocean of information. Currently, it is possible to become a seaport where data is processed and produced.”

Coming back to the comparison of the quantum physics and politics, and viewing it as interesting and remarkable, the Italian journalist introduces the observations of President Armen Sarkissian. “The quantum world is a world in which we use widely the results of the quantum mechanics and electrodynamics. This is a world of relations between the groups of people,” President Sarkissian clarifies. “Political events, developments, and revolutions can take place in different forms. Values should be re-assessed as well as institutions and procedures. The nations, which will remain in the classical world, will face insurmountable controversies, because societies will change even if politics remain the same. It is not about being democratic or undemocratic. The question is the following: have we entered the quantum world yet, or not?”

Developing further the idea that the Soviet Union had entrusted particularly Armenia with the development of the computer and software areas, the journalist visited a number of IT companies, such as Synopsys Armenia, «Polixis», «BetCostruct», «Chessify» and inquired about their programs. “Artificial intelligence cannot substitute work done by humans,” the director of one company says. This company is developing custom computer programs for Swiss banks. “A human is able to concentrate more on the important task while the computer programs can do the recurring tasks, such as searching. Thus, the humans will be able to give their time to the processing of information.”

Speaking of artificial intelligence, President Sarkissian in his turn notes that artificial intelligence systems will be able to process enormous volumes of information, “All aspects of our life will change dramatically, in an unimaginable way. It is necessary to find the best mode for processing that data.” The journalist says that President Armen Sarkissian, who spent his entire life between the Cambridge University and doing business, strives to guide his country toward a new, digital era, making it a leader in the area of artificial intelligence.

Speaking about another company working in Armenia, the journalist notes that this hardware producing American company is investing hyperbolic money into education and offers classes to the students in the company offices. Those students, who participated to the mentioned classes last year, were employed by the company.
The journalist tells also about the Tumo Center and notes that children here have the opportunity to study for free and learn how the data and artificial intelligence can be used to achieve one’s goals. “It is not about coding, which is the alpha and omega here, and everybody knows it, but rather learn to create the best startups and applications, music and movies. The Tumo’s innovative approach is a unique one and is even being exported,” the journalist tells.

The program narrates also about the Presidential ATOM (Advanced Tomorrow) initiative aimed at the development of technologies and artificial intelligence and quotes President Sarkissian, “We are creating a city for the research and development of artificial intelligence, where we will host major companies from Italy, France, United States. First, we will create a platform for cooperation with these companies. Then, there will be admitted the best students, and the Tumo-like educational methods will be created for new generations,” President Armen Sarkissian says. “I dream of creating an amusement center based on technologies and artificial intelligence, a Disney Land of artificial intelligence as a museum of tomorrow, where kids will learn about science and travel into the future.”