We will see revolutionary changes in AI sector: Armen Baldryan

November 20,长沙USDT兑换便捷 2025  20:14

Most of the recent events in Armenia are related to artificial intelligence (AI), everyone is talking about AI, but the use of AI in the global economy does not exceed 7%, and the picture in Armenia is even more unsatisfactory. Considering that AI has great potential as a driving force of the economy, in a few years we will see revolutionary changes in terms of the development of AI and its use in the economy. This was stated by Armen Baldryan, President of the Union of Employers of Information and Communication Technologies, in an interview with NEWS.am Tech within the framework of the Silicon Mountains-2025 international technology summit held in Yerevan on November 15.

We have yet to discover the full potential of AI

According to him, it is necessary to clearly understand that AI is a much more complex technology than what we currently have and even imagine. According to Armen Baldryan, when we say intelligence, it is assumed that it must have the ability to think, that is, to analyze problems, make and implement independent decisions. AI, according to him, now performs to a certain extent the functions of collecting and analyzing data, with the embryonic ability to make decisions.

“As soon as we add the ability to think independently, make decisions and implement them, which will actually happen quite quickly, we will see turning points,” Baldryan said.

There is great untapped potential in the regions

The president of the Union of Employers of Information and Communication Technologies says that the visit of high-tech representatives from different countries to Armenia is very important for our country. In the conditions of rapidly developing technologies, information exchange and cooperation have no alternative. And personal contacts are still the most effective tool on this path.

"First, it gives us an opportunity to get an idea of ​​what is happening around the world. Second, it creates an opportunity to establish connections with other countries and technology centers, with influential people. And third, we get the opportunity to show that Armenia is an interesting place to engage in technology, do business, and create connections. Our goal is the combination of these three," he said.

According to Baldryan, holding technology events in the regions is much more purposeful at the moment, since Yerevan is overpopulated and oversaturated. “But we have a lot of unrealized potential in the regions. People there, young people, are thirsty for knowledge, information, and if we involve them in the country’s technological development process, we will get very good results.” This is what the Union of ICT Employers is doing, also holding Silicon Mountains forums in the regions.

It's a real war in the high-tech sector: We need to hurry

According to Baldryan, a “technological war” is underway in the world, especially in the field of AI. Neither the private sector nor the state can solve any issue separately. “We must unite all forces, we must have a clear strategy for our steps and move forward,” he is convinced. Now this trend is clearly felt in all countries.

According to Baldryan, it is welcome that a strategy for the development of the high-tech industry is being created, and there are draft laws to support the sector. "In other words, state-private cooperation is starting to yield some results. We must try to speed up this process even more and ensure progressive development. Considering that the state sector is a bureaucratic mechanism, we must also make the processes faster and more efficient through the use of technologies," he noted.

We need a leap, a revolutionary change, not in technology, but in our way of thinking

Armen Baldran noted that compared to the previous few years, there are changes in Armenian business today in the direction of using technologies, but they are not enough. "We really need a leap, a revolutionary change, and not only in technologies, but first of all in our way of thinking. For example, at Silicon Mountains in 2025, when we were talking about artificial intelligence, many people said, what kind of topic is that, it's from the fantasy genre... But after three years, everyone started talking about it. We need to be able, especially private business and the state, to look one step ahead, pay attention to developments three years earlier, not three years later... Think quickly and take practical steps," he noted.

As AI advances, a number of professions will radically change

Armen Baldryan, President of the Union of ICT Employers, believes that both the public and private sectors of Armenia are unable to integrate ICT as a more effective management tool in line with global developments today.

"The good news is that now we are actively striving for this, but the processes are very slow, there is a need to speed up and overcome bureaucratic obstacles. I hope that we will be able to do this in the near future, within the next year. If we use the end of this year, the beginning of the second year effectively, create a development strategy and a competitive legislative field, and start a truly inclusive process with the participation of all parties, I think we will succeed," he said.

Along with the development of the AI, changes are taking place in the labor market, jobs are being reduced because of this, in that context, which specialists will be more in demand in the future? Touching upon this question, Baldryan said that in fact all of this was predictable and many studies even 10 years ago assumed that this would be the case, that some professions would disappear or be significantly transformed, that in a few years new professions would emerge that we don’t even think about.

"That is, jobs in certain specialties will certainly be reduced, but new jobs will open that will require a higher level of education and will also be more profitable," he said, adding that the work-education ratio is changing here. Figuratively speaking, if previously a person worked seven hours and studied one hour, the situation will gradually change and we will come to the opposite situation, working one hour and studying 7 hours, because AI and complex technologies will require deeper and more diverse knowledge on the one hand, and on the other hand, they sharply increase labor productivity.

"That is, devoting more time to education and training will result in a significant increase in work efficiency. This means that the main burden will fall on the education system. We need much more drastic changes there, much more revolutionary ones," he announced.

We need to create a chain of technology companies and create the actual product in Armenia

According to Armen Baldryan, we can never say that we are using our resources in the IT sector correctly, as there is always a significant opportunity for improvement. In addition, we currently do not have complete information about our real resources. According to him, there are many companies in Armenia, large or small, it does not matter, which perform some work and export or outsource, and in most cases we do not know about these companies.

"But in reality, they use and create advanced technologies and solutions. One of our main goals should be to form a chain of these companies in order to create as much added value as possible in Armenia. The goal should be to create as much of the technology and product as possible in Armenia, ensuring greater added value. Of course, one company cannot create a very complex product on its own, but 10 companies joining together can," he said.

"For example, the German automotive industry: car parts are produced in numerous factories, mostly German. We should do the same, all these organizations joining together should create a complete Armenian product. This, in turn, can solve the issues of both technological development, security and sustainable development of our country," Baldryan emphasized.

The Silicon Mountains-2025 international technology summit was held in Yerevan on November 15. This year, the event had more than 1,000 participants. This time, the summit was dedicated to the application of AI in the economy and its challenges. During the event, there were individual speeches and panel discussions.

The first panel discussion, titled Industry.ai, discussed the development and application of AI in various industries. The second panel discussion, titled Invest.ai, was dedicated to the financial aspects of AI, the importance of investing in the creation, development and application of AI. The third panel discussion, titled Impact.ai, discussed the social impact of AI, especially on education.

Special guests of the event were Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys, laureate of the 2025 RA State Prize for Global Significant Contribution to the Field of AI, Sasha Ahne, Director of Central and Northern Europe at SIEMENS EDA, Paolo Prinetto, Director of the CINI National Center for Cybersecurity, George Chaparian, Executive Director of the Open Compute Project (OCP) Foundation, Patrick Goneveld, Senior Researcher at AMD, and author and international speaker Ron Immnick.

The summit is held with the support of the Ministry of High-Tech Industry of Armenia. The Platinum Partner of the Summit is Ucom.

The Media Partner of the event is NEWS.am Information and Analytical Agency.

The Summit's partners also include EasyPay, Visa, Synospys, USAID, Staffmedia, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and UNICOMP.