The Strategic Partnership Charter signed on February 10 in Baku between the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the current Vice President of the United States, James David Vance, aims to deepen economic interests and cooperation in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) between the two countries.
Modern.az reports that, according to the Charter, the parties will prioritize the investment and business environment. The document identifies AI technologies, digital infrastructure, and innovation initiatives as priority areas.
Azerbaijan and the US also plan to expand cooperation in technical assistance, sharing best practices, and specialist training in the field of artificial intelligence. Within the framework of these initiatives, joint projects will be implemented between the public and private sectors.
Economist Elman Sadigov spoke to Modern.az about the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the economy.
He noted that the current priority issue is the establishment of data centers. It is also important that data is available via "Mygov" and that all organizations are correctly directed to the data center:
“The operation of Artificial Intelligence-based data centers relies on significant energy consumption. While a single query typically requires 0.5–3 watt-hours (Wh) of energy, training a large model can consume 1–10 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, which is equivalent to the annual energy consumption of thousands of homes. Azerbaijan currently has a generation potential of nearly 2000 megawatts, which is sufficient for the operation of the data center.”
The economist noted that it is also a fact that artificial intelligence, as it develops, leads to increased energy consumption:
“Alongside resources such as electricity and gas, the country possesses all types of inexhaustible energy sources, and demand will be fully met. At the same time, there is a necessity to play the role of an artificial intelligence hub among the Caucasus countries. This will be a great insurance against cyberattacks".
The expert noted that currently there is a certain fragmentation in the internet resources of organizations:
“The shortage of specialists in institutions and the failure of each organization to properly collect its data have made a centralized system a priority issue. The President's directive for every enterprise to have an artificial intelligence specialist stems from this problem.”
Elman Sadigov noted that by 2030, due to artificial intelligence, Azerbaijan's Gross Domestic Product will increase by 60-70 million dollars:
“I would say this is still a conservative approach. Artificial Intelligence solves in seconds what humans think about, analyze, and conclude in a day. This, of course, means an increase in productivity. Currently, the Artificial Intelligence Academy operates within the framework of the aforementioned strategy. The goal is to meet the demand for personnel in the local market", he said.
