On December 3 and 4, Belgrade will host the Global Partnership for Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) summit, bringing together over 500 artificial intelligence experts from more than 40 countries, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Technological Development announced.
The focus of this year’s summit will be on the responsible development of AI and its application to benefit society at large, according to the Ministry’s announcement.
One of the key events during the summit will be the signing of the Belgrade Declaration, which will outline these goals in more detail. More than 70 experts are expected to speak across 25 sessions. Among the distinguished speakers will be Canadian computer scientist Joshua Bengio, renowned for his work on artificial neural networks.
Serbia is co-chairing GPAI this year and will take over as chair next year, said Minister of Science, Technological Development, and Innovation, Jelena Begović. She emphasized that AI is advancing rapidly and that while the excitement around these new possibilities is palpable, it is also crucial to address broader questions, such as whether AI could ever reach human-level intelligence and how to protect intellectual property in the digital age.
Mihailo Jovanović, Director of the Office for IT and eGovernment, highlighted that AI development must be inclusive, with resources made accessible to a wide range of people. He pointed to Serbia’s example of providing free access to its supercomputer in Kragujevac for technical faculties, institutes, science parks, and startups working on diverse AI applications across various sectors.
The GPAI is an international initiative focused on ensuring the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence. It was first proposed by Canada and France during the 44th G7 summit and officially launched in June 2020.
This summit in Belgrade marks the first since the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) took over hosting duties for the partnership earlier this year. Applications for participation in the summit are now open, with the organizers inviting experts, researchers, and business representatives to apply.
The summit is being jointly organized by the Parliament of Serbia, the Government of Serbia, the Office for IT and eGovernment, and the United Nations Development Program, with the support of the President of Serbia and the OECD.
